Using a PCI-6602 to control a laser

[AeroMarty]

Hi,

I am new to LabVIEW. I have a timer box which I can use to control a laser and a camera using a specific software (not LabVIEW). I wanted to add a different laser to the system, but the software would not allow it. I therefore want to try and use LabVIEW to time the laser and camera. The timer box is recognised by LabVIEW as a PCI-6602. How do I use this in conjunction with LabVIEW to send a pulse to the laser for it to fire?

I should be able to send a TTL signal via BNC cable from the box to the laser, but am unsure of how to do this with this hardware. I have tried using the DAQ assistant and DAQmx to produce a pulse, but am not getting any pulse. I have a choice of 8 channels (0 - 7) and have tried each one.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Regards

Marty

[Rhys - AE]

Hi Marty,

Lets be honest, I love any application which involves lasers. So long as it is reffered to as the "Laaayyyy---zzzeerrrr beeeeem!".

What sort of frequencies are you going to need to drive your laser with? You'll need to be sure to stay inside the working specs of the card obviously. I'm sure you've got this covered, but here are the specs and resources if you want to check.

I popped a quick serach on the example code section of our developer zone for "6602" and found 81 results. I have linked a few of the ones that looked relevant below.

NI-TIO: Generating a Continuous Pulse Train and a Digital Start Trigger (Advanced-Level VIs)

Simultaneous Digital I/O and Event Counting with a 6602 Board

NI-DAQmx: Generating a 40 MHz Pulse Train with Counter Output

High Frequency Pulse Generation with the PCI-6602 Board (20 MHz max)

8253: Generate a Square Wave (Digital Pulse Train)

As the 6602 has been around for a fair while now some of these examples are written with some significantly older software compared to LabVIEW 2010 SP1 and the like. I don't think this will hold you back though, but just be aware of that incase of any teething issues with the example code on our website.

I checked the latest DAQmx driver (version 9.3) and it supports the NI 6602 on both PCI and PXI form factors. If you fancy taking a look you can download it for free here.

I hope that has been helpful and informative, and I hope your laser application goes well!

All the best.