Triggering

[Sibi]

Hello all,

I'm new to NI products and have just started using USB 6009. I'm trying to set it up on a linux machine. I have a shell script on the linux machine that runs programs on another chip. I need to measure the power consumption of the chip using a current probe. The current probe will be outputting voltages which the USB 6009 will be logging. I need an easy way for starting/triggering the voltage measurement of the 6009 and then, running the shell script to run the program, and then, stop measuring. This is so that I can associate the measured voltage values with the program that was run.

Could someone tell me what would be an easy way to do this?

Also, can I do the same if I want to run the shell script on the linux host, but the NI product is attached to a Windows box?

Thanks,
G.Sibi

[stilly32]

Hi Sibi,

You've got a couple options. If you control the USB 6009 over Linux, you'll need to be using DAQmx Base, you can set up a digital trigger to start acquisition, there are examples for this. If you use Windows to control the 6009, you'll want to use DAQmx. Again you'll want to use a digital trigger and there would be examples. In my experience, DAQmx is more robust and gives you more flexibility, but Base should work for you as well. You could definitely use the Windows machine to control the 6009 and monitor your other device, as long as you have some digital level to monitor you can trigger, or you can just acquire continuously.

You didn't mention, what environment will you be programming in? LabVIEW will have examples from Example Finder, (Hardware Input and Output>>DAQmx>>Analog Input...), DAQmx Base examples for C and LabVIEW will be in the same directory as the driver. C examples for DAQmx will be in the same directory as the driver as well. Lokk for something along the lines of "Cont Acquire Volt Int Clk - Dig Start". 

Hope this helps, please post back if you have additional questions.

Andrew S

National Instruments