Re: Analog Input Board Recommendations

On Wed, 2 Oct 2002, David Schleef wrote:

> inaccurate if you run it faster than spec.
>
> It may be simpler to think about it in terms of external triggering.
> The board must latch on to the analog signal (on the correct channel)
> within a few nanoseconds of getting the external trigger.  This means
> that the mux must already be settled on the correct channel.  This
> is most easily done by switching the mux to the next channel as soon
> as the A/D converter latches.
>

Do I have to worry about this when using insn's to sample across channels?
 From the above paragraph it seems to me that it actually takes the board
A/D-converstion-time + MUX-settling-time microseconds to successfully
switch channels and return a digital pattern (lsampl_t) to comedi.

So if I do the following:

1) INSN_READ on new channel with n=0 (to switch the MUX)
2) INSN_WAIT with data = MUX settling time in ns
3) INSN_READ with n=1

Aside from the time it takes the code to execute on the cpu, does 1-3
actually take ADC conversion time _plus_ mux settling time, or, like you
said in a previous email, just a bit over mux settling time?  What
triggers the conversion internally on the ADC?  Is it the physical act of
reading the registers?  Does the CPU then block waiting for a reply to
it's inb instruction?

I realize I am in a bit over my head on this one, as I am not usually a
hardware guy (my formal training is in computer science, not EE :)  ), but
any help is really appreciated...

Inquisitively yours,

-Calin

Received on 2002-10-02Z20:44:24