Re: NI MIO "auxiliary" channel (i.e. on-board temperarure sensor)

Frank Mori Hess wrote:
> On Wednesday 19 July 2006 01:35 am, David MacMahon wrote:
> 
>>I can't see how to
>>include two different CR_ALT_SOURCE channels in a cmd's chanlist.
> 
> No, you can't.  The calibration sources are always read from channel 0 
> anyways.

Bummer.  This means that AREF_OTHER is more versatile than 
CR_ALT_SOURCE.  For example, I can use comedilib's cmd program with 
AREF_OTHER to sample my PXI-6031E's ground and 5V calibration sources...

$ cmd -f /dev/comedi1 -s 0 -o -r 0 -c 4 -n 2 -N 5 2>/dev/null
32610 49014
32610 49014
32609 49014
32608 49013
32609 49013

Since AREF_* is per channel, I can write a program with a comedi_cmd 
whose chanlist uses AREF_DIFF for my analog inputs and AREF_OTHER for 
these two calibration channels.  I can't do that using just CR_ALT_SOURCE.

I'd like to lobby for Comedi to provide "official" support for access to 
multiple calibration sources using comedi_cmd (not just via the 
apparently deprecated AREF_OTHER) including reading the temperature 
sensor.  I need to sample the analog inputs continuously and I would 
like to sample the two calibration sources and the temperature sensor 
along with the analog inputs so I can tell whether fluctuations that 
appear in my sampled data correspond to fluctuations in the reference 
voltage(s) and/or temperature of the digitizer.

>>Furthermore, at least on the E series NI MIO boards, the on-board
>>temperature monitor lives in a different "channel space" ("auxiliary" is
>>the word that NI uses) from the calibration sources.  There appears to
>>be no way to get the NI driver to select the temperature monitor as an
>>input using CR_ALT_SOURCE/INSN_CONFIG_ALT_SOURCE.
> 
> 
> What documentation are you using to figure out how to access the 
> temperature monitor?  I don't remember seeing anything about it.

It's in the "PCI E Series Register-Level Programmer Manual" (see pages 
3-11 through 3-15)...

http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/341079b.pdf

Interestingly, it's not mentioned at all in the "AT-MIO E Series 
Register-Level Programmer Manual"...

http://www.ni.com/pdf/manuals/340747c.pdf

I wonder if it exists on the AT-MIO E Series boards and is undocumented 
or if it's just a feature of the PCI E Series boards.

Dave

Received on 2006-07-19Z18:30:11