NI-9476 Update Rate and Propagation Delay

Updated Sep 19, 2024

Reported In

Hardware

  • NI-9476

Issue Details

The specifications of the NI-9476 show two different values for the update rate. In the beginning, the Digital Output Module Comparison Table says the update rate is 500us, but later in the Output Characteristics it is mentioned that the Maximum Update Rate is 40 μs, and the Propagation Delay is 500 μs maximum.
  • What is the difference between the update rate and the propagation delay for this module? 

Solution

The fastest you can update one channel on the NI-9476 is every 500us because of the propagation delay. Normally, this is the specification that we want to look at because it indicates how often we can change the state of the signal in one channel. This is why this is the value shown in the Digital Output Module Comparison Table. 

However, the update rate for the serial communication of the module is 40us, which means that you can send an update command every 40us. 
  • For example, if you want to update CH0 from low to high or vice versa, then you will have to wait for 500us to change it back because of the propagation delay, but you can update CH1 (or a different channel) as quickly as 40us after you send the first update. 
This is why you might receive a warning when setting up a hardware-timed task running at more than 2 kHz (500us) for one channel. 

Additional Information

When an "update" is mentioned above, it means that you can send a command to a list of channels and they will all change at the same time. It will not take 500 us for each channel in the same command to update. They change simultaneously and the same applies to FPGA.