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ExceLINX 1A Timer Vs Delay1

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163 views

ExceLINX 1A Timer Vs Delay1

ele

Uploaded by

Santoshkumar Gupta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Keithley Instruments -Frequently Asked Question

Page 1 of 4

Product(s):
DMMs: 2700, 2701, 2750
Software: ExceLINX-1A

Question: What is the difference between the timer and delay parameters in the
trigger model of the Integra Series products?

Answer: Timer is one of the selections for trigger source. It specifies the amount of
time between the start of each measurement. Figure 1 illustrates the timer interval.
Note that the reading timestamp is not synchronized with the start and stop clocks of
the timer.
Figure 1 Timer Interval
Reset
Clock

Start
Clock
Timer Interval

Meas. 1
Starts

Meas. 1
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

Meas. 2
Starts

Meas. 2
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

Time

The delay parameter of the trigger model allows the user to set the amount of time
between the end of one measurement and the start of the next. Figure 2 illustrates
the delay. Again, note that the timestamp and delay interval are not synchronous.
Figure 2 Delay Interval

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Keithley Instruments -Frequently Asked Question

Start
Clock

Page 2 of 4

Reset
Clock
Delay Interval

Meas. 1
Starts

Meas. 1
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

Meas. 2
Starts

Meas. 2
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

Time

Another way to relate the timer and delay intervals is to say that the measurement
time is encapsulated within the timer interval, but is excluded from the delay
interval.
For single channel operation only the greater of the timer or delay values is used.
For multiple channel operation, there are two modes, scan and step. How the timer
and delay values are used is a result of which mode is enabled in the instrument.
In step mode, the multimeter is configured to measure each channel and output a
trigger after the measurement of each channel. In step mode only the greater of
timer or delay is used.
In scan mode, the channels are treated as a group so that the instrument
sequentially measures each of the channels in the scan list and outputs a trigger
after each time it completes the entire scan. Both timer and delay may be used in
scan mode. Timer denotes the amount of time between the start of scans and delay
denotes the amount of time between the end of the measurement of one channel
and the start of the measurement of the next channel. Figure 3 below illustrates the
relationship between timer and delay intervals in a scan.
Figure 3 Timer and Delay Intervals in Scan Mode

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Keithley Instruments -Frequently Asked Question

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...
Scan 1
Chan 1
M eas.
Starts

Scan 1
Chan 1
Meas.
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

Scan 1
Chan 2
Meas.
Starts

Scan 1
Chan 2
Meas
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

...
Scan 2
Chan 1
Meas.
Start

Scan 2
Chan 1
Meas.
Stops
Timestamp
Reported

Time

In correlating the relationship between timer and delay, it is also important to


understand the timestamp of the reading. The timestamp is taken when the reading
is completed. Although the timer value ensures that the start of measurements
occur at specified intervals, the difference between the timestamps of the
measurement will not be the same as the timer value. As an example, assume the
timer interval is set to 1sec and the delay is set to 0sec. Your data might appear as
follows:
Scan #
1
2
3

CH 101
-0.005588
0.030513
0.042289

Time
0
1.014
2

CH 102
0.040909
0.052254
0.080678

Time
0.021
1.034
2.021

CH 103
0.005263
0.079677
0.048272

Time
0.047
1.06
2.047

Note that the difference between the timestamps for CH 101 measurements in
scans 1 and 2 is more than one second whereas the difference of timestamps for
CH 101 in scans 2 and 3 is less than one second. These differences are not due to
the uncertainty of the timer. Timer is an internal clock that controls the start of
measurements, but the times for the start of measurements in both scans are not
given in the data. The measurement for CH 101 in scan 1 started before the 0sec
timestamp. The same is true for the measurement for CH 101 in scan 2.
On the other hand, it is possible to see the delay interval in the scan data. Note the
example data below where the delay interval is set to 1sec:
Scan #
1
2
3

CH 101
-0.005588
0.030513
0.042289

Time
0
3.068
6.132

CH 102
0.040909
0.052254
0.080678

Time
1.026
4.092
7.182

CH 103
0.005263
0.079677
0.048272

Time
2.044
5.113
8.2

The delay interval begins at basically the same time that the time for the
measurement is stamped. Therefore, after the first CH 101 measurement at 0sec
the clock began to tick. One second later, the measurement for CH 102 began.
Since we have the timestamp for the CH 102 measurement, we can assume that
the measurement for CH 102 took 26 ms (1.026sec 1sec). Adding one second to
the timestamp of CH 102 measurement, we arrive at the start of measurement for

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Keithley Instruments -Frequently Asked Question

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CH 103. Using the same line of thought, we know that the measurement for CH 103
took approximately 18ms.
Copyright 2003, Keithley Instruments, Inc.

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