[time-nuts] TimeLab

Adrian rfnuts at arcor.de
Sun Oct 9 12:34:05 EDT 2016


Hi Magnus,

unfortunately, you can't measure 0 delay between two signals with a counter.
With a 53131A, there is 500ps of LSB jitter and jitter from the measured
signal as well as from the reference signal.
When both signals are exactly in phase, the counter will randomly jump
between 0 and 1 second (assuming you are measuring 1pps signals).
In order to avoid this dead zone, you must add a sufficiently large
phase offset between both signals.
And, keep the acquisition time small enough to avoid phase wraps due to
drift between both sources.
The dead zone random jumps can not be unwrapped by any software.

Cheers,
Adrian


Magnus Danielson schrieb:
> Hi,
>
> Well, yes. You can do some fancy stuff with additional hardware, but I
> think with already a handful of relatively simple software fixes and
> some basic setup conditions, a sufficiently robust method emerges.
>
> I could not sign-swap the measurements in TimeLab when I tried.
> I don't seem to be able to force the unwrapped phase to be +/- half
> cycle.
> I don't seem to be able to offset my readings. I have two sources of
> offset, one is the additional delay of cables, and the other is the
> offset due to wrong cycle (I hope this one can be baked into
> alternative phase-unwrapping mode). I would prefer if I could hit
> calibration to establish the zero-level. Typically I use a BNC barrel
> and well, it does add smoe more delay
>
> What I propose should be doable with a simple counter like 5335A,
> 53131/2A or similar. If you have a locked say 100 Hz or 1 kHz signal
> (TADD-2 can be useful if the GPSDO does not output proper signal), you
> can do the picket fence and resolve things, it is just that there is a
> few things to aid in the post-processing to make values useful.
>
> I further hint about a few things which makes easier to analyze is the
> improved support for zooming.
>
> Oh, I do care about phase variations and absolute phase measures. I do
> such measures a lot. ADEV and TDEV is not all the things I measure,
> especially when considering systematic effects.
>
> Cheers,
> Magnus
>
> On 10/09/2016 03:42 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
>> Hi
>>
>> Given that *some* of us have more than errr … one counter :)
>>
>> There are several setups that involve two or three counters to
>> resolve some of these issues. Having
>> multiple serial ports or multiple devices on a GPIB isn’t that big a
>> problem. Addressing multiple devices
>> (setting up the addresses in TimeLab) is an added step. Coming up
>> with standard setups would be the
>> first step. Getting them documented to the degree that they could be
>> run without a lot of hassle would be
>> the next step.
>>
>> Another fairly simple addition (rather than a full blown counter)
>> would be some sort of MCU to time tag
>> the input(s). It’s a function that is well within the capabilities of
>> a multitude of cheap demo cards. Rather than
>> defining a specific card, it is probably better to just define a
>> standard message (115200 K baud, 8N1, starts
>> with “$timenuts$,1,”, next is the channel number, after that the (32
>> bit?) seconds count.The final data field is
>> a time in nanoseconds within the second, *two byte check sum is last,
>> cr/lf). If there is a next generation version that is
>> incompatible, the 1 after timeouts changes to a 2.) Yes, even 10
>> seconds after typing that definition I can see
>> a few problems with it. Any structural similarity to NMEA is purely
>> intentional. That’s why it needs a bit of
>> thought and work before you standardize on it. It still would be a
>> cheap solution and maybe easier to integrate
>> into the software than multiple counters. You do indeed have all the
>> same setup and documentation issues.
>>
>> In any of the above cases, the only intent of the added hardware is
>> to get a number that is good to 10’s of ns.
>> Anything past that is great. Once you know where all the edges really
>> are, sorting out the phase data becomes
>> much easier.
>>
>> Bob
>>
>>> On Oct 9, 2016, at 7:32 AM, Magnus Danielson
>>> <magnus at rubidium.dyndns.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Fellow time-nuts,
>>>
>>> I don't know if it is me who is lazy to not figure TimeLab out
>>> better or if it is room for improvements. I was considering writing
>>> this directly to John, but I gather that it might be of general
>>> concern for many, so I thought it be a good topic for the list.
>>>
>>> In one setup I have, I need to measure the offset of the PPS as I
>>> upset the system under test. The counter I'm using is a HP53131A,
>>> and I use the time-interval measure. I have a reference GPS (several
>>> actually) which can output PPS, 10 MHz, IRIG-B004 etc. In itself
>>> nothing strange.
>>>
>>> In the ideal world of things, I would hook the DUT PPS to the Start
>>> (Ch1) and the reference PPS to the Stop (Ch2) channels. This would
>>> give me the propper Time Error (DUT - Ref) so a positive number
>>> tells me the DUT is ahead of the reference and a negative number
>>> tells me that the DUT is behind the reference.
>>>
>>> Now, as I do that, depending on their relative timing I might skip
>>> samples, since the counter expects trigger conditions. While TimeLab
>>> can correct for the period offset, it can't reproduce missed samples.
>>> I always get suspicious when the time in the program and the time in
>>> real world does not match up.
>>>
>>> I could intentionally shift the PPS output of my DUT to any suitable
>>> number, which would be one way to solve this, if I would tell
>>> TimeLab to withdraw say 100 ms. I might want to do that easily
>>> afterhand rather than in the setup window.
>>>
>>> To overcome this, I use the IRIG-B004 output, which is a 100 Hz
>>> signal with a stable rising edge aligned to the PPS to within about
>>> 2 ns. Good enough for my purpose. However, for the trigger to only
>>> produce meaningful results, I will need to swap inputs, so that the
>>> PPS from DUT is on Start/Ch1 and the IRIG-B is on Stop/Ch2. This way
>>> I get my triggers right. However, my readings have opposite sign. I
>>> might have forgotten about the way to correct for it.
>>>
>>> However, TimeLab seems unable to unwrap the phase properly, so if I
>>> have the condition where I would get a negative value of say -100 ns
>>> then the counter will measure 9,999,900 ns, so I have to force a
>>> positive value as I start the measurement and then have it trace
>>> into the negative. I would very much like to see that TimeLab would
>>> phase-unwrap into +/- period/2 from first sample. That would be much
>>> more useful.
>>>
>>> I would also like to have the ability to set an offset from which
>>> the current zoom window use as 0, really a form variant of the
>>> 0-base but letting me either set the value or it be the first value
>>> of the zoom. I have use for both of these. I often find myself
>>> fighting the offset issues. In a similar fashion, I have been unable
>>> to change the vertical zoom, if I don't care about clipping the
>>> signal then it forces me to zoom in further than I like to. The
>>> autoscale fights me many times in a fashion I don't like.
>>>
>>> OK, so there is a brain-dump of the last couple of weeks on and off
>>> measurement experiences. While a few things might be fixed in the
>>> usage, I wonder if there is not room for improvements in the tool. I
>>> thought it better to describe what I do and why, so that the context
>>> is given.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Magnus
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>>
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