Nano Second timer

saurabh Maheshwari

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: LMK03806, LMX2581, SN74LV8154, LMK04828

1. Is there any method so that we can measure an activity with nanoseconds resolution?

2. I need to measure time taken by two bluetooth devices to send and receive 1 bit and distant 10 cm from each other. This time will be in nano second range. Measurement needs to be very precise in ns domain.

over 11 years ago

0 Arvind Sridhar over 11 years ago

TI__Mastermind 24205 points

Hi Saurabh,

Perhaps you are looking for a GHz clock? LMK03806 and LMX2581 are possible candidates.

Regards

Arvind Sridhar

0 saurabh Maheshwari over 11 years ago in reply to Arvind Sridhar

Prodigy 30 points

Thanks Arvind for a quicky.

to measure 1 ns time interval can u suggest how should I use these in the circuit i mean what should be other components.

Can this be used for measuring time for single bit transfer between two wireless devices which are 10 cm away.

0 Russ Clyde over 11 years ago in reply to Arvind Sridhar

Prodigy 20 points

Arvind,

Diclosure: I'm a hobby guy, not an EE. My idea can become commercial, but I have to prove the concept first :-)

I too need a nano (or sub-nano) second timer.

I was thinking a 10Ghz clock (or 2Ghz at least) into a 16 or 32 bit counter.

I found sn74v8154 but the datasheet (http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/sn74lv8154.pdf) says the clock duration min to be 10 nano seconds. and all the other counters I looked at had even higher mins.

This seems like I'm making the simple complicated, but is there already an IC which counts nano seconds (or some other ultra small time slice)?

I also thought of 555 timer, but again, I can't find a counter fast enough to handle nano second clock.

Where to go from here?

Russ

0 Arvind Sridhar over 11 years ago in reply to Russ Clyde

TI__Mastermind 24205 points

Hi Russ,

My team does not support 555 timers and counters. However, we do have a device LMK04828 which support an external input of 3 GHz on Fin and cascaded (1-8191) and (1-32) dividers

Regards

Arvind Sridhar

0 Russ Clyde over 11 years ago in reply to Arvind Sridhar

Prodigy 20 points

Wow!

I was asking for a fly swatter and you give me an M1-Abrams tank!

I'm fully confident that this would work for me (and NASA), but did I mention I'm a hobby kinda guy and not an Electrical Engineer?

So have I asked for something that does not exist or do I need to roll-my-own for this one?

Should I go to another forum?

Russ

0 Arvind Sridhar over 11 years ago in reply to Russ Clyde

TI__Mastermind 24205 points

Hi Russ,

Best to continue searching in other TI forums :-)

Regards

Arvind Sridhar

0 Tuan Vu Phan over 8 years ago in reply to Arvind Sridhar

Prodigy 190 points

Hi arvind,

I am being under the same situation and as your recommendation, I found out an evaluation board for LMK04828 as the link below.
But, I wonder it is a processor (programmable hardware) or not. In other words, Can I use it to make a nano second timer independently? Or I need a processor which connect to it and gives commands for making timer?
www.ti.com/.../lmk04828bevm

0 Arvind Sridhar over 8 years ago in reply to Tuan Vu Phan

TI__Mastermind 24205 points

Hi Tuan Vu Phan,

LMK04828 device supports SPI interface for register programming.

Regards

Arvind Sridhar

0 Tuan Vu Phan over 8 years ago in reply to Arvind Sridhar

Prodigy 190 points

Thanks arvind , your answer unties me from trouble.
before I book for evaluation board, could you help me confirm the last time with my application, can i use it to count duration between 2 events which is from 10 - 20 ns?

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Nano Second timer