National Instruments 6368 User Manual

7-12 | ni.com
Chapter 7 Counters
Low Frequency with One Counter
For low frequency measurements with one counter, you measure one period of your signal using
a known timebase.
You can route the signal to measure (fx) to the Gate of a counter. You can route a known timebase
(fk) to the Source of the counter. The known timebase can be an onboard timebase, such as
100 MHz Timebase, 20 MHz Timebase, or 100 kHz Timebase, or any other signal with a known
rate.
You can configure the counter to measure one period of the gate signal. The frequency of fx is
the inverse of the period. Figure 7-12 illustrates this method.
Figure 7-12. Low Frequency with One Counter
High Frequency with Two Counters
For high frequency measurements with two counters, you measure one pulse of a known width
using your signal and derive the frequency of your signal from the result.
Note Counter 0 is always paired with Counter 1. Counter 2 is always paired with
Counter 3.
In this method, you route a pulse of known duration (T) to the Gate of a counter. You can
generate the pulse using a second counter. You can also generate the pulse externally and connect
it to a PFI or RTSI terminal. You only need to use one counter if you generate the pulse
externally.
Route the signal to measure (fx) to the Source of the counter. Configure the counter for a single
pulse-width measurement. If you measure the width of pulse T to be N periods of fx, the
frequency of fx is N/T.
fx
fk
Gate
Source
123 …
N
Single Period
Measurement
…
Period of
fx =
N
Frequency of fx =
N
Interval Measured
fk
fk
fk
fx

National Instruments 6368 Specifications

General

Brand	National Instruments
Model	6368
Category	Data Loggers
Language	English