triggering a PXI-5122 with PXI-6552

[menchar]

Is there a mechanism for triggering a PXI-5122 with a PXI-6552 on the PXI trigger bus?

I have an example that uses markers to do this, but it's very tedious to mark every sample in the PXI-6552 waveform such that the marker is output to the trigger bus. Is there some way to achieve this without using markers?

Thanks for any info.

[Teigen]

Hi,

This a great question. The devices that you are using in this application are both based on the NI Synchronization and Memory Core (SMC) architecture. This architecture provides a number of ways to synchronize and integrate NI hardware. What kind of triggering would you like to perform? I understand that you need to send the trigger with the 6552 and receive this trigger with the 5122. The type of trigger you can use will depend on how you want to synchronize these devices. Do you want to perform a continuous acquisition of data when the 6552 starts generating data? Do you need to perform a series of finite acquisitions with the 5122? If you could elaborate on how and when the acquisition should be started, and how the 6552 is related to the data acquisition we can give you some more specific ideas about what kinds of triggers can be used. In the meantime, the NI Digital Waveform Generator/Analyzer help files have a lot of documentation about the various triggers that can be produced with the 6552, that I encourage you to take a look at. Within the help files I would specifically recommend the following sections: NI Digital Waveform Generator/Analyzer Help>>Fundamentals>>Digital Terminology>>Timing and Triggering>>Triggers and Events.

Good luck with your application and have a great day!

Scott Teigen
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

[menchar]

Scott -

Thanks for the reply.

I have two 5122's, and I'd like to cause all four channels to take a measurement concurrently, as triggered by a signal

[menchar]

Scott -

Thanks for the response.

I have 2 5122's that I'd like to trigger concurrently from a single signal originating in the 6552. There is a set of coordinated digital waveforms with a finite length being output by the 6552, one of which we call "convert" and is exported to the PXI trigger bus. The other digital waveforms are emitted from the front panel.

We've created the waveform, including the convert signal, using the digital waveform editor. A 6552 script will be needed to output the waveform.

It seems that I can export markers across the PXI trigger bus to the 5122's, but labeling the convert signal with markers using script commands is tedious, as the samples to be marked have to be enumerated in the "generate marker0 " script command. I see that NI-Scope apparently will allow the 5122's to trigger off of "RTSI <0...7>" even though these are not present in the PXI system - does NI-Scope properly map what it calls the RTSI signals to the PXI trigger signals?

I have noticed the NI - TClk functionality, but it's not clear to me how I might use it in this scenario.

I am using Lab Windows CVI 7.1.

Thanks,

Bob Hayes

[RossC]

Bob,

Scott is currently out of the office. Routes that call for RTSI<0..7> will be mapped to PXI_Trig<0..7> if the board is in a PXI chassis. TClk may or may not be appropriate for your application. It depends on whether you want to sync all of the board's clocks together and perhaps have them share a start trigger. If this is the case, TClk provides an easy interface for this type of sync. However, from what you have mentioned so far in this thread, I do not necessarily see a need to use TClk. Hope that helps out, have a good day!

Sincerely,

Ross C
Applications Engineer