Manual Adjustment of NI-TClk Synchronization

Manual adjustment is the process of minimizing synchronization skew and jitter by adjusting Trigger Clock (TClk) signals using an instrument driver.

You can use the NI-TClk API to synchronize the action of multiple instruments. Manual adjustment tunes the sample clocks and triggers of instruments that have been synchronized using NI-TClk, which enables better alignment than you can achieve using NI-TClk synchronization alone.

The following terms apply to manual adjustment and NI-TClk synchronization:

  • Skew—Misalignment between instrument timing across slots of a chassis and across chassis that is caused by clock and analog path delay differences
  • Jitter—Variation in instrument alignment that can be expected with each call to the NI-TClk Synchronize function
  • Repeatability—Consistency in the effect of the NI-TClk Synchronize function across instruments; reduction in jitter

Perform manual adjustment to obtain the best possible NI-TClk synchronization between supported instruments.

Refer to the specifications for your instrument for the synchronization specifications you can expect using NI-TClk with or without manual adjustment.

Note Note   Manual adjustment can minimize skew only between multiple instruments, not between multiple channels of the same physical instrument. Mulitple channels of the same physical instrument are always synchronized.