Does 6034E read analog channels in parallel or in serial?

[Josu]

This seems like a very easy question to resolve but for some reason after reading the manual for the 6034E I cannot find it.

I am using the BNC-2110 with the PCI-6034E and was wondering when reading analog inputs does the 6034E read them in parallel or serial?
I will use a trigger to read 3 analog channels and want to know if I need to worry about the delay between the reading of these three channels.



Running LV 6.1 on WinXP.

[WM_John_Weeks]

You're right- the manual doesn't have an explicit mention of how scanning is done on this device! However, at two pictures of the input hardware shows a multiplexor on the input, a sure sign that is does *not* do simultaneous sampling 🙂

Another clue is in the "Common Questions" (appendix C) it says:

"What does sampling rate mean to me? It means that this is the fastest you can acquire data on your device and stillachieve accurate results. For example, these devices have a sampling rate of 200 kS/s. This sampling rate is aggregate: one channel at 200kS/s or two channels at 100 kS/s per channel illustrates the relationship."

A simultaneous sampling device doesn't have an "aggregate rate".

Another clue is that this is a "low-cost" device 🙂

[Josu]

John,
Thanks a lot for your help.  I've looked at the diagram you're refering to several times but couldn't deduce what it meant in terms of timing.
I'd also read the part about sampling in the appendix (you can probably tell I'm a real novice). 

I had another question regarding the timing of these readings;  If I sample 4 channels at once, I can do each channel at 50 kS/s, taking 20 us per sample.

In my application, I will use an AI trigger (Ch0).  I will be scanning Ch0 until I get a positive signal then I will read Ch1, Ch2, Ch3 then CH 1.
Is it correct to say that it will take 20 us for each reading so that each reading would occur at the following times?
Ch0 is at t=0 us
Ch1 is at t=20 us
Ch2 is at t=40 us
Ch3 is at t=60 us
Ch0 is at t=80 us

I would need a window of 100 us to make 1 reading, yes?

[Hal_L]

Hi JS_OSU,

You are close in your timing specifications, except that you also need to account for interchannel delay in a multichannel acquisition. Here is the link to another forum post which goes into these timing specifications in detail: E-Series [vis-a-vis S-Series] Multi-Channel Sampling? Please take a look at the forum and the links in the post and let me know if anything is unclear.

Regards,
Hal L.