Changing a Time Slice

Note  This section applies only to NI 73xx motion controllers.

Use the Load Program Time Slice VI or function to specify the minimum time an onboard program has to be run per watchdog period, with a total of 20 ms allowed for all running onboard programs. The default value of 2 ms allows a maximum of 10 onboard programs running simultaneously with equal time slices.

You can increase the time slice of the program to change its performance. The higher you set the time slice, the more the program can execute, because it commands more processor time.

However, because the processing power is being held longer by the onboard program, the response times of other onboard programs are slower. Also, increasing the time slice of a program may reduce host responsiveness and increase I/O reaction time, even though host communications and I/O reaction have higher priorities than onboard programs because the motion controller must guarantee that every program runs for its allotted time per watchdog period.