Synchronizing USB-8502 Devices with NI-XNET

Updated Nov 17, 2020

Environment

Hardware

  • USB-8502

Software

  • LabVIEW

Driver

  • NI-XNET

I am using multiple NI 8502 devices for CAN communication. How can I synchronize them so they start communicating with my system simultaneously?

The XNET Generic Synchronization example VI shows how to synchronize two NI-XNET devices. You can work off of this example to synchronize your system. If you need to synchronize two USB-8502 devices, you will need the two-port version of the device, as this version has the terminals to import and export timing signals. 

 

To synchronize your system, you will export both the timebase and the start trigger from one USB-8502 to the other through the T0 and T1 lines. In the XNET Generic Synchronization example, the T0 and T1 ports are the FrontPanel0 and FrontPanel1 ports, respectively.

 

You can find the XNET Generic Synchronization example in the LabVIEW Example Finder. 

  1.  In LabVIEW, select Help >> Find Examples.
  2. When browsing by Task, select the Hardware Input and Output folder. 
  3. Under the Hardware Input and Output, you can go to CAN >> NI XNET >> Synchronization 
  4. Double click to open the XNET Generic Synchronization example.