Even the most accurate pneumatic probe is useless if its data arrives late or out of sync with your logger. High-speed flows (≥100 m/s) make this worse—millisecond delays can mean missing critical pressure spikes. Here’s how to lock in perfect synchronization.

Choose the right connection:

· Ethernet: Best for distances >5m (e.g., probes in a wind tunnel test section connected to a logger in a control room). Use Cat6a cables for 10 Gbps speeds to handle high data volumes.

· USB 3.2: Ideal for short-range setups (≤3m). It’s plug-and-play but avoid daisy-chaining—each additional device adds latency.

· BNC: Old-school but reliable for analog signals (e.g., from unamplified probes). Pair with a high-speed A/D converter (≥1 MSPS) to digitize data quickly.

Set a common time source:
Use a GPS timestamp or hardware trigger (e.g., a 10 MHz clock) to sync both probe and logger. For example:

1. Connect a trigger cable from the logger to the probe’s excitation module.

2. Set the logger to start recording when it sends a 5V pulse—and the probe to start sampling on the same pulse.
This eliminates “time drift” (where 1 second of real time becomes 1.002 seconds in data).

Test with a known signal:
Before critical tests, inject a 1 kHz square wave into both systems. If the probe’s data shows the wave 2ms later than the logger’s, adjust the probe’s delay settings in software. Most modern loggers let you offset timestamps by microseconds to fix this.

Pro tip: For 10k+ samples/sec, use a dedicated sync box (e.g., National Instruments PXI-6653) instead of relying on software. Hardware sync is 10x more reliable at high speeds.

Still seeing delays? Share your probe/logger model, and we’ll troubleshoot the connection.