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Chapter 2
Using the Module
2-30
ni.com
Digital Triggering
You can configure the NI PXIe-4330/4331 modules to start an acquisition in response to a
digital trigger signal from one of the PXI Express backplane trigger lines. The trigger circuit
can respond either to a rising or a falling edge. In addition, the trigger circuit provides a
programmable filter useful for debouncing noisy trigger signals.
Analog Triggering
Analog triggering allows you to trigger your application based on an input signal and trigger
level you define. You can configure the analog trigger circuitry to monitor any input channel
acquiring data. Choosing an input channel as the trigger channel does not influence the input
channel acquisition capabilities.
The analog trigger signal can be used as a reference trigger only. In a reference-triggered
acquisition, you configure the module to acquire a certain number of pre-trigger samples and
a certain number of post-trigger samples. The analog trigger on the NI PXIe-4330/4331
cannot be used as a start trigger. This restriction is a result of the way the module compensates
for the filter group delay.
When using an analog reference trigger, the module first waits for the specified number of
pre-trigger samples to be acquired. Once enough pre-trigger samples are acquired, the
reference trigger will occur the next time the analog trigger condition is met. You also can
route the resulting reference trigger event to the NI PXIe trigger bus to synchronize the
triggering of other modules in the system.
During repetitive triggering on a waveform, you might observe jitter because of the
uncertainty of where a trigger level falls compared to the actual digitized data. Although this
trigger jitter is never greater than one sample period, it might be significant when the sample
rate is only twice the bandwidth of interest. This jitter usually has no effect on data processing,
and you can decrease this jitter by sampling at a higher rate.
You can use several analog triggering modes with the NI PXIe-4330/4331 modules, for
instance analog edge, analog edge with hysteresis, and window triggering.