Using Analog Input Triggers.docx

Using Analog Input Triggers

Open this ExampleOpen this Example

This example shows how to acquire data using an immediate, manual and

software trigger. The various triggering properties are explored

relative to each trigger type. The trigger properties used

include: TriggerType, TriggerRepeat, TriggerDelay, TriggerDelayUnits,

TriggerChannel, TriggerCondition and TriggerConditionValue.

See also ANALOGINPUT, ADDCHANNEL, DAQDEVICE/SET, DAQDEVICE/GET, GETDATA, DAQDEVICE/START, STOP, PROPINFO, DAQHELP.

Note: This can only be run using the 32-bit version of MATLAB and Data Acquisition Toolbox™. To

learn more about using data acquisition devices on other platforms, see this example.

To make this example run, you must have a microphone plugged into your winsound card to provide a valid signal.First, find any running data acquisition objects and stop them. This stops all running data acquisition objects from interfering

with this example. This code is usually not necessary outside this example unless there are multiple data acquisition objects running.

if (~isempty(daqfind))

stop(daqfind)

end

In this example, we are going to explore the properties related to triggering and acquire 3000 samples of data using an immediate,

manual, and software triggers.

TRIGGERS. A trigger is defined as an event that initiates the logging of data to memory and/or a disk file. The logging status

is indicated by the Logging property. When a trigger occurs, the Logging property is set to On. The destination for logged

data is indicated by the LoggingMode property. You can log data to memory or a disk file. By default, the data is logged to

memory.

An analog input object can log data using an immediate trigger, a manual trigger, or a software trigger. The trigger type

is indicated by the TriggerType property. An immediate trigger is the default trigger type.

IMMEDIATE TRIGGERS. An immediate trigger begins logging data immediately after the START command is issued.First, let's create the analog input object ai and add two channels to it. This will allow the winsound device to run in stereo

mode. The analog input object will be configured to acquire 8000 samples per second.

ai = analoginput('winsound');

addchannel(ai, [1 2]);

set(ai, 'SampleRate', 8000);

The number of data samples that the trigger will acquire is indicated by the SamplesPerTrigger property. The analog input

object will be configured to acquire 3000 samples per trigger. The ai object is also configured to acquire data immediately.

set(ai, 'SamplesPerTrigger', 3000);

set(ai, 'TriggerType', 'immediate');

As soon as the analog input object is started, the trigger will occur. When the trigger executes, the number of samples specified

by the SamplesPerTrigger property is acquired for each channel and stored in the data acquisition engine.

start(ai);

You can retrieve the data from the data acquisition engine with the GETDATA function.The size of data will be the number of samples per trigger by the number of channels.[data,time] = getdata(ai);

size(data)

ans =

3000 2

The data can be plotted against time with the trigger occurring at time = 0. As you can see, it took 0.375 seconds to acquire

the data. This time is calculated by taking the ratio SamplesPerTrigger/SampleRate.

plot(time,data);

zoom on;

title('Immediate Trigger');

xlabel('Relative time in seconds.');

ylabel('Data in volts');

REPEATING TRIGGERS. You can configure triggers to occur repeated times. Trigger repeats are controlled by the TriggerRepeat

property. When the TriggerRepeat property is set to its default value of 0, the trigger will occur once when the trigger condition

is met. If the TriggerRepeat property is set to a positive integer, then the trigger is repeated the specified number of times

when the trigger condition is met. If TriggerRepeat is set to Inf, then the trigger repeats continuously when the trigger

condition is met and the data acquisition can be stopped only with the STOP command.

With an immediate trigger, each trigger will occur immediately after the previous trigger has finished executing.Let's configure the analog input object, ai, to acquire 3000 samples with two immediate triggers.And start the analog input object.set(ai, 'TriggerType', 'immediate');


set(ai, 'TriggerRepeat', 1);

start(ai);

You can retrieve the data from the data acquisition engine with the GETDATA function.The first command extracts the first 1500 samples from the data acquisition engine.The second command extracts the second 1500 samples from the data acquisition engine.[data1,time1] = getdata(ai);

[data2,time2] = getdata(ai);

You can plot the data against time with the first trigger occurring at time = 0.plot(time1,data1, 'Color', 'red');

hold on

plot(time2,data2, 'Color', 'blue');

zoom on

title('Immediate Triggers - Using TriggerRepeat=1');



hold off

MANUAL TRIGGERS. A manual trigger begins logging data after you manually issue the TRIGGER command.Let's configure the analog input object, ai, to acquire 3000 samples at 8000 samples per second with one manual trigger.And then start the analog input object with the START command.set(ai, 'SamplesPerTrigger', 3000);

set(ai, 'SampleRate', 8000);

set(ai, 'TriggerType', 'manual');


start(ai);

The data acquisition engine will be running as soon as the START command is issued. However, the data samples will not be

stored in the data acquisition engine until the TRIGGER command is issued. Therefore, the number of samples available from

the data acquisition engine will be zero.

get(ai, 'Running')

get(ai, 'SamplesAvailable')

ans =

On

ans =

0

Now let's execute the manual trigger.trigger(ai)

You can retrieve the 3000 data samples stored in the data acquisition engine with the GETDATA command.The data can be plotted against time. As you can see, it took 0.375 seconds to acquire the data. This time is calculated by

taking the ratio SamplesPerTrigger/SampleRate.

[data,time] = getdata(ai);

plot(time,data);

zoom on;

title('Manual Trigger');



TRIGGER DELAYS. Trigger delays allow you to control exactly when data is logged after a trigger executes. You can log data

either before a trigger executes or after a trigger executes. Trigger delays are specified with the TriggerDelay property.

Logging data before a trigger occurs is called pretriggering, while logging data after a trigger occurs is called postriggering.

A pretrigger is specified by a negative TriggerDelay property value, while a postrigger is specified with a positive TriggerDelay

property value.

You can delay triggers either in seconds or samples using the TriggerDelayUnits property.Let's configure the analog input object to acquire a total of 3000 samples. 1000 samples will be acquired before the manual

trigger occurs and 2000 samples will be acquired after the manual trigger occurs.

set(ai, 'TriggerType', 'manual');


set(ai, 'TriggerDelay', -1000);

set(ai, 'TriggerDelayUnits', 'samples');

The analog input object is started and the data acquisition engine will start running.start(ai);

status = get(ai, 'Running')

status =

On

The toolbox needs an opportunity to acquire the pretrigger data. We'll pause here for 1.5 seconds to allow data to accumulate

in the pretriggering buffer

pause(1.5);

Let's trigger the analog input object now, and then wait for up to two seconds for the acquisition to complete.trigger(ai);

wait(ai,2)

You can retrieve the 3000 data samples stored in the data acquisition engine with the GETDATA command.The data can be plotted against time with the trigger occurring at time = 0. Therefore, the pretriggered data will be plotted

with a negative time value and the data acquired after the trigger will be plotted with a positive time value.


plot(time,data);

zoom on;

title('Immediate Triggers');



SOFTWARE TRIGGERS. A software trigger begins logging data when a signal satisfying the specified condition is detected on

one of the specified channels.

The channel used as the trigger source is defined by the TriggerChannel property. The condition that must be satisfied for

a trigger to occur is specified by the TriggerCondition property. You can set this property to one of the following values:

Rising - The signal must be above the specified value

and rising.

Falling - The signal must be below the specified value

and falling.

Leaving - The signal must be leaving the specified range

of values.

Entering - The signal must be entering the specified range

of values.The specified value or range that the trigger condition must meet is indicated by the TriggerConditionValue property.Let's configure the analog input object, ai, to acquire 3000 samples at 8000 samples per second with one software trigger.

The trigger will occur when a signal on the first channel has a rising edge and passes through 0.013 volts. In order for this example to succeed, the data acquisition microphone must be subjected to a signal greater than .013 volts

to activate the trigger. Otherwise the example will fail, returning a timeout and a blank graph.set(ai, 'TriggerType', 'software');


set(ai, 'TriggerCondition', 'rising');

set(ai, 'TriggerConditionValue', 0.013);

set(ai, 'TriggerChannel', ai.channel(1));

To capture one second worth of data before the trigger occurs the data acquisition engine will wait for 2 seconds for this

condition to be met before stopping.

Also start the analog input object.set(ai, 'TriggerDelay', -1);

set(ai, 'TriggerDelayUnits', 'seconds');

set(ai, 'TimeOut', 2);

start(ai)

You can retrieve the 3000 data samples stored in the data acquisition engine with the GETDATA command. If the trigger condition

was not met, GETDATA will timeout after two seconds and no data will be returned.

The data is then plotted against time with the trigger occurring at time = 0.Waiting for software trigger from microphone and then get the datadisp('You must supply a signal greater than 0.013 volts to activate the trigger');

wait(ai,10);


plot(time,data);

zoom on;

title('Software Trigger');



You must supply a signal greater than 0.013 volts to activate the trigger

Now delete the analog input object.

delete(ai)

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Using Analog Input Triggers.docx