Sync and trigger between high speed video and DAQ

[Basiliskos]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to get my high speed video camera and DAQ device to synchronously trigger when I either:

• Use an external trigger (like a pickle)
• Click "Run" on the software itself.

I'm fine with using any of two methods above, as long as the camera and the DAQ start to record at the same time, so perhaps help with what you believe would be the easiest to set-up? We are using our DAQ to attain analog voltage data.

Here's info on what equipment we have:

• NI DAQ USB-6216 BNC
• Camera: Fastec Troubleshooter
• Software: NI SignalExpress 2015

I'm not entirely sure how to trigger our DAQ to begin with. I understand the 6216 only responds to digital triggers, but I'm not sure how to hardwire or set up an external trigger that will work, especially since the data we are acquiring is analog. From my very baseline understanding which could very well be incorrect, we can physically wire the +5V screw terminal to the PFI0 to make a digital signal for triggering, but I don't know where to go from there.

Thank you for your time, I am completely new to this realm of equipment and could use any help I could get.

-Amy

[Gaheel17]

Hi Amy,

There is a very good example that shows how to set up a task with triggering. This is part of the examples shipped with LabVIEW, so you can find it by going to LabVIEW >> Help >> Find examples … In NI Example Finder go to Browse >> Hardware Input and Output >> DAQmx >> Analog Input >> Voltage Continuous Input.vi.

For sourcing the Digital Trigger you need a rising or a falling edge.

Regards,

Jose F.

[saratoga2]

That camera has a trigger in connector, so the easiest way to do this would be to setup a NI task that starts recording and simultaneously raises a voltage output from 0 to 5V.  Then whenever the NI board starts acquiring, the camera will be triggered.

You can then either hit a button in software to start the acquisition, or wire up a trigger to the NI board if you would like to start it using another hardware device or button.