Chapter 4
Synchronization
©
National Instruments Corporation
4-5
NI PXI-6682 Series User Manual
increased latency and indeterminate performance from the onboard
buffers. Synchronization performance across switches can be in the
tens of microseconds. If a switch must be used, obtain a 1588 boundary
clock or transparent switch to achieve the best performance. These
devices allow traffic to cross Ethernet collision domains without the
inherent loss in performance from a switch.
•
Ensure that the network is running at 100 Mbps by noting the Speed
LED status. Synchronization performance is degraded when running at
10 Mbps.
Note
If it is impossible to use a 100 Mbps network and you must run IEEE 1588
synchronization using a 10 Mbps network, ensure the network interface of the
NI PXI-6682 Series is explicitly configured for 10 Mbps Full Duplex operation using the
Windows configuration panels.
GPS Synchronization Best Practices
The embedded GPS receiver in the NI PXI-6682 Series requires signals
from several satellites to be able to compute precise timing and location.
The more satellites available to the receiver, the more precisely it can
determine time and location. Therefore, the location of the antenna should
be such that it will receive signals from the greatest number of satellites
possible. As the number of satellites visible to the antenna decreases, the
synchronization performance may also decrease. The antenna location
should be chosen so that the antenna has a
clear view of the sky
. There is no
strict definition for
clear view of the sky
, but a suitable guideline is that the
GPS antenna should have a straight line of sight to the sky in all directions
(360
°
) down to an imaginary line making a 30
°
angle with the ground.
Locations far from trees and tall buildings which could reflect GPS satellite
signals are best.