Chapter 1
Generating Functions with the NI 5401
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National Instruments Corporation
1-5
duty cycle of the SYNC output between 20% and 80% by software control,
as shown in Figure 1-3. t
p
is the time period of the sine wave being
generated and t
w
is the pulse width of the SYNC output. The duty cycle is
(t
w
/t
p
)
×
100%.
Figure 1-3.
SYNC Output and Duty Cycle
For your NI 5401 for PCI, you can route the SYNC output to the RTSI lines
over the RTSI bus. For your NI 5401 for PXI, you can route the SYNC
output to the TTL trigger lines over the TTL trigger bus. The SYNC output
is derived from a comparator connected to the analog waveform and
provides a meaningful waveform only when you are generating a sine wave
on the ARB output. For more information on SYNC output, see Chapter 2,
PLL Ref Connector
The PLL Ref connector is a phase-locked loop (PLL) input connector that
can accept a reference clock from an external source and frequency lock the
NI 5401 internal clock to this external clock. The reference clock should
not deviate more than ±100 ppm from its nominal frequency. The minimum
amplitude levels of 1 V
pk-pk
are required on this clock. You can lock
reference clock frequencies of 1 MHz and 5–20 MHz in 1 MHz steps.
Note
You can frequency lock the NI 5401 for PCI to other NI devices over the RTSI bus
using the 20 MHz RTSI clock signal. You can frequency lock the NI 5401 for PXI to other
NI devices using the 10 MHz backplane clock.
If no external reference clock is available, the NI 5401 automatically tunes
the internal clock to the highest accuracy possible. For more information on
PLL operation, refer to Chapter 2,
ARB Output
t
p
SYNC Output
(50% Duty Cycle)
SYNC Output
(33% Duty Cycle)
t
w