Hey guys,
I am working on an optical imaging system. Therfore I need a pulse/delay generator, which triggers up to 6 devices (e.g. laser,DAQ card etc.). Since the box delay generators cost up to 6000 $ I was thinking to build one using Arduino.
Since I am really new to microcontroller etc. I wanted to ask, if it is possible to build such a signal generator with Arduino.
The generator should have 6 pulse-train outputs and rise/edge time of the pulses should not exceed 20 ns.
I have found some pulse generation system based on Arduino, however I am not sure about the specifications on pulses the Arduino is capable of.
Thank you very much!
Arduino is capable of all kinds of pulse train generation.
Check out my "piano tones micros" postring, creates 13 independent audio frequency pulse trains at once.
Edge transition times will depend on signal loading.
The only real defined number is in
29.6 SPI Timing Characteristics
with rise/fall time of 3.6nS called out.
8 MHz output timing is definitely supported - I have banks of shift registers all being clocked at 8 MHz with no clock edge problems.
Hey, thanks for quick reply!
Well that sounds great.
Another short question since I could'nt find a solution:
How big is the resolution of generated pulse trains?
In other words, can I create any pulse frequency up to 8MHz (?), or is
it restricted to specific frequencies? I have see something like to choose steps from 0-255
because of the 8-bit pwm outputs.
Depends on how you create the frequency. My code was software based, so the resolution was limited to what micros() offers, which will be 4 to 8 microseconds.
Using PWM, which uses hardware in a kind of set & forget configuration so no software involvement, you can obtain other frequencies.
The 0-255 refers to the width of pulses with a set period, but the frequency itself is fixed.
For example, with analogWrite, the frequency is ~488 Hz, about 2mS period, so the high pulses can be 1/255 of 2mS wide, up to 254/544 of 2mS wide.
Google "PWM secrets" for articles on setting up prescalers & the timer/counters for PWM frequencies.