Is hardware trigger output from NI 7358 possible and how much additional delay does it cause?

[Shishya]

I would like to use either aerotech 3200 controller or NI motion controller.
I have some questions to choose the right one. Please do post your comments
on this.

1. I find that aerotech has position synchronized output, which is a very desirable
feature. However I don't know if the aerotech controller can work with
PXI firewire board - I believe it is NI8252. (since they don't work with some chips
in the firewire board). Have any of you used aerotech 3200 with PXI?

2. Is it possible to get a hardware trigger output from NI 7358 in response to an
encoder input? How much additional delay does it cause (time from receiving the encoder
input to sending the trigger output)? I was wondering if breakpoint output can be used
for this purpose.

Thanks,

Shishya

[Rodj]

Shishya,

The breakpoint on the PXI-7358 is a position compare output, so it is what you are looking for. The delay is minimal since the compare is done in HW (FPGA). The delay in HW is in the nanosecond range I believe.

The NI-735x boards have a couple of really nice breakpoint features. Periodic breakpoints allow you to trigger breakpoints up to 4 Mhz. This is useful when all your breakpoints are equally spaced. Once set up in your software, you do not have to keep re-enabling the breakpoint. This is handled by the motion controller.

Buffered breakpoints allow for a 2 kHz breakpoint frequency. This is useful when your breakpoints are not equally spaced. In this mode you can send a buffer of breakpoints to the motion controller and the motion controller will enable each breakpoint in order. If needed you can use a circular buffer to allow for an infinite stream of breakpoints.

These controllers also have the standard single shot breakpoint.

Thanks,

Rodger S.