National Instruments FP-QUAD-510 User Manual

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FP-QUAD-510
6
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Position Counter Operation
Each position counter has a 32-bit binary counter that represents 
the current position of the shaft connected to the axis. Channels 0 
through 3 contain the lowest 16 bits of these counters for axes 0 
through 3 respectively. Channels 4 through 7 contain the 
uppermost 16 bits for axes 0 through 3 respectively.
Primarily, the position counter channels increment or decrement in 
response to edges encountered at the Phase A and Phase B inputs.
The following sections describe the operation of the counter 
channels.
Position Counter Input Circuit
The circuit for the position counter inputs consists of a comparator 
with current limited inputs to convert from a differential to a 
single-ended signal. The output of the comparator is used to drive 
an optoisolator. When you apply a voltage above the threshold 
voltage to the input terminal, the comparator turns on the 
optoisolator, registering in the ON state.
The inputs are designed to be compatible with single-ended TTL 
encoders or differential encoders supplying a differential voltage of 
at least ±0.3 V.
Each encoder input has a lowpass filter that rejects frequencies 
above 250 kHz to reduce false counts due to high-speed transients. 
This cutoff point allows encoder frequencies as high as one million 
counts/second, because there are four counts per period, as shown 
in Figure 6.
Figure 6.  Quadrature Encoder Counts/Period Relationship
Phase A
Phase B
00
10
11
01
1 period = 4 counts