PicoScope 3000: Getting a sampling time of 1ns or lower

[Fab]

Hello everyone,

I use my PicoScope 3206D with the streaming mode from the GitHub picosdk examples to get the data to LabVIEW (PicoScope3000aExampleStreaming.vi).
Now I have a pulse signal with a duration of 10ns and want to detect this signal with a sampling time of at least 1ns.
However, the smallest sampling time I could adjust is 8ns. When I try to define a value of 7ns or lower an undefined error (5043) occurred.

I want to know, if it is possible to get a sampling time smaller then 8ns with this setup and how I can achieve this.
If this is not possible, what can I do to get a lower sampling time?

Many thanks,
Fab

[AndrewA]

Hi,

Code: Select all

Error code 5043 is (5043 - 5000) = 0x0000002B hex.
PICO_INVALID_SAMPLE_INTERVAL = The sample interval selected for streaming is out of range.

In streaming mode the 3206D is limited 125 MS/s (SDK) due to the USB controller in the scope.
This rate shared between all enabled channels.
125 MS/s is 8ns sample interval, or 16ns for two channels.

The actual sample Interval is returned back to after calling ps3000aRunStreaming() by reading sampleInterval and sampleIntervalTimeUnits.

[Fab]

Hi Andrew,

thanks for your quick and helpful answer.

Regards,
Fab