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National Instruments Corporation
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Common Questions
This appendix contains a list of commonly asked questions and their
answers relating to usage and special features of the NI 6115/6120.
General Information
What is the NI 6115/6120?
The NI 6115/6120 is a switchless and jumperless enhanced MIO device
that uses the DAQ-STC for timing.
What is the DAQ-STC?
The DAQ-STC is the system timing control application-specific integrated
circuit (ASIC) designed by NI and is the backbone of the NI 6115/6120
device. The DAQ-STC contains seven 24-bit counters and three 16-bit
counters. The counters are divided into the following three groups:
•
AI—two 24-bit, two 16-bit counters
•
AO—three 24-bit, one 16-bit counters
•
General-purpose counter/timer functions—two 24-bit counters
The groups can be configured independently with timing resolutions of
50 ns or 10
µ
s. With the DAQ-STC, you can interconnect a wide variety of
internal timing signals to other internal blocks. The interconnection scheme
is quite flexible and completely software configurable. New capabilities
such as buffered pulse generation and equivalent time sampling are
possible.
What does the maximum sampling rate mean to me?
Maximum sampling rate is the fastest you can acquire data on the device
and still achieve accurate results. The NI 6115 device has a maximum
sampling rate of 10 MS/s. This sampling rate is at 10 MS/s regardless if
1 or 4 channels are acquiring data. The NI 6120 has a maximum sampling
rate of 800 kS/s.
