Validate NI PXIe-6570/1 Edge Placement Resolution Spec 39.0625 ps

Updated Apr 27, 2023

Environment

Hardware

  • PXIe-6571
  • PXIe-6570
  • PXIe-6672
  • PXIe-5186
  • PXIe-1092

Software

  • LabVIEW
  • InstrumentStudio

I want to generate multi-channel pulse signals with time delay resolution less than 1ns, which instrument can I use?
The specification of NI PXIe-6570/1 specifies its Edge Timing property as shown in the following capture, especially "Edge Placement resolution 39.0625 ps", how can I validate this spec in real world?

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1. Open NI Digital Pattern Editor, and configure the necessary configuration files as follows:

PinMap:

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Specifications:

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PinLevels:

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Timing:

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Pattern:

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After well configuration, now we have two digital channels of output pulse with rising edge delay 500ps, the ideal waveform are shown above.

2. Press "Brust Until Abort", the software will continuously generate the pattern and output from instrument connectors.

3. Here we need help from an oscilloscope instruments PXIe-5186 to capture these two signals and you can use the device configuration properties as shown below.

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The hardware setting I use:
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In conclusion from the InstrumentStudio panel, we can find the NI PXIe-6570 device implemented the pre-configured 500ps rising edge delay via edge placement function successfully.

Furthermore, we use InstrumentStudio Measurement Tab to dive deep into the statistical information:
1. Digital pattern instruments generate digital pulses with around 1.2 ns rise time.(which align with NI spec)
2. Time Delay from channel 0 to channel 1: Mean 520 ps, Max 568 ps, Min 474 ps, Jitter range ±50 ps, Standard Deviation 11.84 ps.

Next Steps

You can also use NI Digital Pattern Editor to validate even smaller edge placement resolution via revising the value of AC.Delta. For example 50 ps.

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