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ORTEC EASY-MCA 8K and 2K User Manual 931044C

1. user selected net peak reaches the specified value Nuclide MDA Stops data collection when the value of the minimum detectable activity MDA for up to 20 user specified MDA nuclides reaches the needed value The presets are implemented in hardware so the computer does not have to poll the EASY MCA for the preset to operate See Section 2 3 5 for details on the MDA preset calculation 17 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 3 1 1 Inputs and Connectors INPUT Accepts positive unipolar positive gated integrator or positive leading bipolar analog pulses in the dynamic range from 0 to 10 V 12 V maximum semi Gaussian shaped time con stants from 0 25 to 30 us gated integrator shaped time constants from 3 us to 30 us or delay line shaped with width gt 0 25 us Za 1 dc coupled No internal delay BNC connector ADC GATE Optional positive TTL input Computer selectable Coincidence Anticoinci dence Off mode Signal must occur prior to and extend 0 5 us beyond the peak of the pulse BNC connector Z 1 PUR Pile up rejection input accepts TTL signal signal must occur prior to peak detect Za 1 BNC connector BUSY Busy input used by live time correction circuits Accepts TTL signal signal must occur prior to peak detect Z 1 BNC connector USB High speed USB 480 Mbps interface 12 V DC External power input from wall mounted dc power su
2. 1 12 About this Manual 2 oup era OR COR e bea t RC OR 1 2 GETTING STARTED y Salis oy Ree arta eo brad vac Sot puta ed 3 2L The EASY MCA Qua veste Rem NAR A ptc iS Re M RSS 3 2 Front Panel io uut Pens ee due bet ee e aud ua 3 21 11 Inputs and COnmeGtOrs cete Abt e tnd oles 3 2 2 REACT ADEN LE ce we Re Lea EY DEM GE PPS 3 2 1 3 Cabling Tor Spectroscopy oos rac o Dd o eS a tuc wt 4 2 2 Software and Hardware Installation 5 2 2 1 Step 1 Install the CONNECTIONS Driver Update 5 22 227otep 2 Install MAES PROM eek Pak Moe Ret 6 2 2 3 Step 3 Connect the EASY MCA to the Computer 6 2 2 4 Step 4 Run MCB Configuration to Communicate With Your MCBs 7 2 2 4 1 Configuring a New Instrument 8 2 2 4 2 Customizing ID Numbers and Descriptions 8 2 2 5 Attaching More Than One EAS Y MCA to the Computer 9 2 2 6 Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Computer 9 2 3 EASY MCA MCB Properties in MAESTRO 9 pe D parc rr PT 10 pbi IET PRI RP NE E TAE Rid De dn Ep p EET RA 11 PACA Non Corp n 11 a os e den Pet bed b eee kb x bd bR Rad 11 MDA DPies
3. LIST ULSCA Device supports the MDA preset Software selectable ADC type MatchMaker Has ability to daisy chain MCBs DART Zero Dead Time functions available DSPEC series EASY MCA 931044 1014 3 SPECIFICATIONS Bit 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 95 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 Meaning DSPEC Plus style Insight triggering LIST SET_TRIG_SAMP Multiple inputs per connection for example OCTETE Plus Hardware count rate meter SH_CRM Multiple ZDT modes SET SHOW LIST_MODE_ZDT Multi nuclide MDA preset MCS Replace then Sum Mode SET_RPLSUM Programmable external dwell voltage capability NO Peak Preset feature and OASIS Programmable pulser OASIS Programmable Vacuum HV interlock OASIS Programmable Current HV interlock OASIS Explorable Stabilizer LIST_GAIN_ADJU LIST_ZERO_ADJU Programmable input impedance MCS Advanced shaping time feature has no CUSP digiDART DSPEC jr 2 0 DSPEC Pro Selectable HV rise time SET SHOW LIST_HV_RISE SBS 60 Explorable ADC GATE settings LIST_GATE SET_GATE n Monitor command support SHOW MONI MAX LABEL V ALUE SMART 1 Detector support SHOW SMART DET SHOW SNUM DET SHOW HV RECO Nuclide report SET ISHOW COEF SET SHOW ROI NUCL Interactive Display Features Such as Nuclide Report Advanced Stored Spectra SH SPEC COUNT SET SHOW SPEC ID MOVE SET SHO
4. NOTE MAESTRO does not support efficiency calibration The efficiency component in the CorrectionFactor is set to 1 0 the preset field is labeled Correction instead of and the preset is based on counting activity cA instead of becquerels 13 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 931044C 1014 You can enter the MDA preset either in counts or corrected for factors such as sample volume attenuation or calculated efficiency For example if you man ually calculate the efficiency for a peak you can enter a corrected MDA target value by multiplying the desired MDA value times the calculated efficiency and entering the product as the Correction To add an MDA preset enter the preset value in the MDA or Correction field select the Nuclide and Energy enter the desired values for coefficients a b and c then click Add New To edit an existing preset click to highlight it in the table This will load its Nuclide Energy and coefficients in the lower sections of the dialog Change as needed then click Update To remove a preset click to highlight it in the table then click Delete IMPORTANT These MDA presets are not dynamically calculated Each time you add an MDA preset to this table its CorrectionFactor value is calculated and stored in the MCB s memory If you then load a different library change the effi ciency calibration or change the system geometry the spectroscopy applica tion will
5. PEAK PRESET 29 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 SET ROI start chan number of chans Sets the ROI flags for the specified channels This command can be used multiple times to set ROI flags without affecting previously set flags ROI flags specify channels within a device that are considered for ROI integral and ROI peak presets SET ROI MDA start numchans PeakNumber Sets the region to use to compute the gross counts in the MDA calculation PeakNumber is an optional parameter assumed 0 if not present that specifies which of up to 20 0 19 MDA Presets to change SET ROI UNCERTAINTY start chans Sets the region to be used for the uncertainty preset calculation See also SHOW ROI UNCERTAINTY SET SEGMENT Not used in the EASY MCA included for backward compatibility SET TRUE ticks Sets the true time counter to the specified number of ticks The number represents true time in units of 20 ms 50 ticks sec Normally this value is set by the EASY MCA during data acquisition See also CLEAR COUNTERS and SHOW TRUE SET TRUE PRESET ticks Sets the true time preset to the specified number of ticks 20 ms tick During data acquisi tion when the true time counter reaches the preset number of ticks the preset is complete and the acquisition is stopped Setting a true time preset to O ticks disables the preset See also CLEAR PRESETS and SHOW TRUE SET ULD value This
6. acquiring data during acquisition the preset fields are disabled You may use any or all of the presets at one time To disable a preset enter a value of zero If you disable all of the pre sets data acquisition will continue until manually stopped The values of all presets for the cur rently selected MCB are shown on Properties for Easy MCA Ex ADC About Status Presets MDA Preset Easy MCA Sample Acquisition Start Time Access 13 33 55 Monday June 30 2008 Read Write Firmware Revision Serial Number Acquisition Mode 2 258 3 PHA Figure 9 EASY MCA About Tab Properties for Easy MCA Ex U taint Real Time 2 Preset in 2 Live Time Start Chan 0 Peak cnt Renten width 1 ROI Integral cnts Suggest Region Overflow Figure 10 EASY MCA Presets Tab the Status Sidebar These values do not change as new values are entered on the Presets tab the changes take place only when you Close the Properties dialog When more than one preset is enabled set to a non zero value the first condition met during the acquisition causes the MCB to stop This can be useful when you are analyzing samples of 11 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 widely varying activity and do not know the general activity before counting For example the Live Time preset can be set so that sufficient counts can be obtained for proper calcu
7. and extend 500 ns m beyond peak detect peak maximum Real Time Live Time 0 00 0 00 Figure 8 EASY MCA ADC Tab The Conversion Gain sets the maximum channel number in the spectrum If set to 8192 the energy scale will be divided into 8192 chan nels The conversion gain is entered in powers of 2 e g 8192 4096 2048 1024 512 The up down arrow buttons step through the valid settings for the EASY MCA The Lower Level Discriminator sets the level of the lowest amplitude pulse that will be stored This level establishes a lower level cutoff by channel number for ADC conversions The mini mum setting is 1 The Upper Level Discriminator sets the level of the highest amplitude pulse that will be stored This level establishes an upper level cutoff by channel number for storage 10 931044 1014 2 GETTING STARTED 2 3 2 About This tab Fig 9 displays hardware and firmware information about the currently selected EASY MCA as well as the data Acquisition Start Time and Sample description In addition the Access field shows whether the MCB is currently pass word locked see the password dis cussion in the MAESTRO user manual Read Write indicates the MCB is unlocked Read Only means it is locked 2 3 3 Status The Status tab is not used in the EASY MCA 2 3 4 Presets Figure 10 shows the Presets tab MDA presets are on a separate tab The presets can only be set on an MCB that is not
8. and is 150 channels long D0000000000072 lt CR gt No ROI groups to report SHOW_ROI MDA Reports the start channel and number of channels used in the MDA preset calculation Example Response D0700000050ccc Calculation is performed on channels 7000 7049 SHOW ROI UNCERTAINTY Reports the start channel and number of channels used in the uncertainty preset calculation See also SET ROI UNCERTAINTY Response D0700000050ccc Calculation is performed on channels 7000 7049 SHOW SEGMENT Returns the current segment number Always 1 for the EASY MCA SHOW SNUM Responds with a F record indicating the serial number of the EASY MCA Response F100 Serial number 100 SHOW STATUS Returns system status information in the following format Milililiilittttttttttaaaaahhhhhccc CR 36 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES where IIIT represents the live time as returned by the SHOW LIVE command tttttttttt represents the true time for the current device as returned by the SHOW TRUE command aaaaa represents the active device mask as returned by the SHOW ACTIVE DEVICES command and hhhhh represents the hardware status which is an ASCII representation of a 16 bit decimal number with the following bit definitions Bit 0 LSB Bias supply polarity O positive 1 negative Bit 1 Bias supply overload O overload 1 normal Bit 2 High voltage enabled O disabled 1 enabled Bit 3 Unused Bit 4 Amplifier PZ d since
9. initialization O normal needs PZ ing Bit 5 Optimization since initialization O normal needed Bits 6 7 Unused Bit 8 Amplifier automatic PZ 1 Auto PZ in progress O normal Bit 9 Optimization O normal 1 in progress Bits 10 14 Unused Bit 15 MSB Reserved SHOW TRUE Reports the contents of the true time counter in units of 20 ms 50 ticks s See also CLEAR COUNTERS and SET TRUE Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt True time reported as 0 ticks G0000000001076 lt CR gt True time reported as 1 tick 20 ms G4294967295132 lt CR gt True time reported as 4294967295 ticks over 23000 days SHOW_TRUE_PRESET Reports the current true time preset in units of 20 ms 50 ticks s See also CLEAR_ PRESETS and SET_TRUE_PRESET Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt True time preset reported as disabled G0000000001076 lt CR gt True time preset reported as 1 tick G4294967295132 lt CR gt True time preset reported as 4294967295 ticks SHOW_ULD Returns the value of the ULD in channels as a C record 37 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 SHOW UNCERTAINTY Returns the current value of the uncertainty for the peak in the uncertainty preset See also SET UNCERTAINTY Responses UNCE 0000000000008 5 Uncertainty of the peak is 8 596 SHOW UNCERTAINTY PRESET Returns the current uncertainty preset setting See also SET UNCERTAINTY PRESET Responses UN
10. line to distinguish them from mandatory parameters e g SET WINDOW start length Com mands with optional parameters can be sent to the MCB without the optional parameters in which case the instrument behavior will be explained in the command description 4 2 Error Codes On each completion of the command the MCB returns a macro error code and micro error code The macro error code represents the general class of error with 0 meaning no error and the micro error code represents the sub class of error with 0 meaning no error In case of error con dition you can use the MIOGetLastError DLL interface or GetErrMajor GetErrMinor ActiveX control interface Macro error codes Success ooo Power up just occurred Battery backed data lost 23 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 931044C 1014 Invalid Command For macro code 129 syntax error or 131 execution error the following apply Micro error codes Input already started stopped Preset already exceeded Parameter was rounded for decimal numbers No sample data available 4 2 1 Dollar Response Records SHOW and STEP commands respond with a single dollar response record followed immediately by a percent response record All valid dollar response records for each command are listed in the command dictionary The following list provides the general form of each dollar response record for the MCB API In th
11. or equal to 4294967295 maximum reportable value 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES SHOW_INTEGRAL_PRESET Reports the current ROI integral preset value For more information about the ROI integral preset see SET_INTEGRAL_PRESET See also SHOW_INTEGRAL Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt Integral preset reported as 0 G4294967295132 lt CR gt Integral reported as 4294967295 SHOW_LIVE Reports the contents of the live time counter in units of 20 ms 50 ticks s See also CLEAR COUNTERS and SET LIVE Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt Live time reported as 0 ticks G0000000001076 lt CR gt Live time reported as 1 tick 20 ms G4294967295132 lt CR gt Live time reported as 4294967295 ticks over 23000 days SHOW_LIVE_PRESET Reports the current live time preset in units of 20 ms 50 ticks s See also CLEAR_PRESETS and SET_LIVE_PRESET Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt Live time preset reported as disabled G0000000001076 lt CR gt Live time preset reported as tick G4294967295132 lt CR gt Live time preset reported as 4294967295 ticks SHOW_LLD Shows the lower level discriminator setting See also SET_LLD Responses C00050092 The LLD is 50 SHOW_MDA PeakNumber Reports current MDA for the MDA Preset selected by PeakNumber PeakNumber is assumed to be 0 if not supplied Example response MDA 0000000000010 7 SHOW_MARK Not used by the EASY MCA included for backward compatibil
12. rear panel 12V POWER Connect the power adapter to the ac mains supply USB High speed port connects to the computer or hub via USB cable ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 931044C 1014 MAX PWR Figure 2 EASY MCA Rear Panel 2 1 3 Cabling for Spectroscopy Figure 3 shows the standard cabling of an EASY MCA in an HPGe detector system If the detec tor has a TRP preamplifier PLUS model all connections shown below should be made Resistive feedback preamplifiers do not have an INHIBIT output so the INHIBIT connection is left open INHIBIT PLUS system only PREAMP POWER To computer via high speed USB INPUTS HIGH VOLTAGE A zz 240 a E PREAMP 7 E D BIAS SHUTDOWN BUST EASY MCA Front Panel 659 672 Power Supply Amp Rear Panel Rear Panel Figure 3 Cabling the EASY MCA 931044 1014 2 GETTING STARTED 2 2 Software and Hardware Installation Installing the EASY MCA and the accompanying CONNECTIONS and MAESTRO software takes just four easy steps Note that you must have Administrator level access in Windows to install ORTEC software For easiest installation do not connect the EASY MCA to your computer until MAESTRO has been installed 1 Install the accompanying CONNECTIONS Driver Update Kit P N 797230 selecting the USB based instruments family on the i
13. tests designed to expose any flaws in materials or workmanship Permanent records of these tests are maintained for use in warranty repair and as a source of statistical information for design improvements Repair Service If it becomes necessary to return this instrument for repair it is essential that Customer Services be contacted in advance of its return so that a Return Authorization Number can be assigned to the unit Also AMT must be informed either in writing by telephone 865 482 4411 or by facsimile transmission 865 483 2133 of the nature of the fault of the instrument being returned and of the model serial and revision on rear panel numbers Failure to do so may cause unnecessary delays in getting the unit repaired The AMT standard procedure requires that instruments returned for repair pass the same quality control tests that are used for new production instruments Instruments that are returned should be packed so that they will withstand normal transit handling and must be shipped PREPAID via Air Parcel Post or United Parcel Service to the designated AMT repair center The address label and the package should include the Return Authorization Number assigned Instruments being returned that are damaged in transit due to inadequate packing will be repaired at the sender s expense and it will be the sender s responsibility to make claim with the shipper Instruments not in warranty should follow the same procedure
14. the power source vi INPUT GATE BUSY EASY MCA PUR ORTEC BUSY 1 INTRODUCTION The ORTEC EASY MCA 8K and EASY MCA 2K multichannel buffers MCBs include 512 KB of memory and 1 25 us conversion time The 8K model s successive approximation 8192 channel ADC has conversion gain settings of 256 512 1024 2048 4096 and 8192 The 2K model offers conversion gain settings of 256 512 1024 and 2048 Dead time can be correc ted using the highly accurate Gedcke Hale extended live time method The EASY MCA communicates via high speed USB and up to eight units can be controlled by a single computer Features e Fast 1 25 us ADC and memory Onboard memory allows fast downloads to your computer PUR BUSY and GATE inputs and an ADC busy LED e Bundled with our MAESTRO MCA Emulator Software 1 1 Host Computer and Software Requirements The EASY MCA is completely computer controlled by ORTEC spectroscopy applications such as MAESTRO which runs under Microsoft Windows 8 7 and XP Professional SP3 com municating with CONNECTIONS v6 11 or later 1 2 About this Manual This manual describes the EASY MCA tells how to connect it in a complete spectroscopy sys tem gives instructions on configuring the hardware settings such as high voltage presets and gain and supplies the firmware commands and responses for users who wish to write custom control software
15. 10 BUSY he viuo EP ER So din 3 18 S DATEI 4 COIDCIdeHCe isse be WX NAT SU EP Robe e 10 Dead tile CES er 12 17 EASY MCA ADG Seti excea omm estes 10 anticoincidence 10 cabling in spectroscopy system 4 1 ss ces ea versae e Su o be 10 ad eae Mae 10 live time 12 lower level discriminator 10 MCB Properties in MAESTRO 9 MDA preset 13 overflow preset 13 real time 12 ROI integral preset 12 ROI peak count preset 12 uncertainty preset 12 upper level discriminator 10 Feature mask bits oes Ree 18 GANS eO AO LAS ol So gite 10 Installation uc ue i SUP Reina 5 Ev PT 12 Lower level discriminator LLD 10 MDA preset ues oup 13 Pile up rejector 3 18 igi i soies UE 11 Realtime EF 12 ISesolUtlOl a cis c e obe 17 Troubleshooting 14 Uncertainty preset 12 Upper level discriminator ULD 10 INDEX 39 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 40
16. 1024 lt CR gt Conversion gain set to 1024 channels SET GAIN CONVERSION 2048 CR Conversion gain set to 2048 channels SET GAIN CONVERSION 4096 lt CR gt Conversion gain set to 4096 channels SET GAIN CONVERSION 8192 lt CR gt Conversion gain set to 8192 channels 27 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 SET GATE ANTICOINCIDENT Causes the EASY MCA to use the ADC gate input signal in anticoincident mode See also SET GATE OFF SET GATE COINCIDENT and SHOW GATE SET GATE COINCIDENT Causes the EASY MCA to use the ADC gate input signal in coincident mode See also SET GATE OFF SET GATE ANTICOINCIDENT and SHOW GATE SET GATE OFF Causes the EASY MCA to ignore the state of ADC gate input signal See also SET _ GATE_COINCIDENT SET ANTICOINCIDENT and SHOW SET INTEGRAL PRESET count Sets the ROI integral preset to the specified count During data acquisition when the sum of the counts contained in the channels that have the ROI flag set reaches the integral preset count the preset is complete and the acquisition is stopped The actual number of counts in the ROI integral may exceed the preset value by up to 512 counts due to the pipelined archi tecture of the EAS Y MCA Setting an integral preset to 0 counts disables the preset The integral preset may be set to from 0 disabled to 4294967295 counts See also CLEAR PRESETS and SHOW INTEGRAL PRESET SET LIVE ticks S
17. AS Y MCA is completely software controlled the MCB Properties dialog contains all of the instrument controls including ADC setup parameters and acquisition presets Just move from tab to tab and set your hardware parameters then click Close ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 931044 1014 Note that as you enter characters in the data entry fields the characters will be underlined until you move to another field or until 5 seconds have lapsed since the last keyboard input During the time the entry is underlined no other program or computer on the network can modify this value 2 3 1 ADC This tab Fig 8 contains the Gate Conversion Gain Lower Level Discriminator and Upper Level Discriminator controls In addition the current real time live time and count rate are monitored at the bottom of the dialog The Gate control allows you to select Properties for Easy MCA EXT a positive TTL logic level gating function About Status Presets MDA Preset With gating Off no gating is performed Gate Conversion Gein a H that is all detector signals are processed of xl Lower LevelDise with gating in Coincidence mode a gating input signal must be present at the proper sae octal at ij time for the conversion of the event in Anticoincidence mode the gating input signal must not be present for the conver sion of the detector signal The gating sig nal must occur prior to
18. CE PRES 000000000000000 No preset UNCE PRES 0000000000008 5 Preset set to 8 5 SHOW VERSION Reports the EAS Y MCA firmware version number in the form Fmmmm vvv CR where mmmm is a 4 character model designator and vvv is a 3 character version designator Example Responses FEZMC 002 lt CR gt Model EAS Y MCA firmware version 2 reported SHOW_WINDOW Reports the start channel and number of channels in the window of interest in the form Dxxxxxyyyyyccc lt CR gt where 15 the start channel 0 8192 and yyyyy 15 the number of channels 1 8192 See SET_WINDOW for more information about the window of interest Example Responses D0000008192092 lt CR gt Window of interest reported as starting at channel 0 and continuing for 8192 channels D0819208192112 lt CR gt Window of interest reported as starting at channel 8192 and continuing for 8192 channels START seg mask Starts the acquisition of spectral data The optional segment mask is provided for compati bility with other MCBs and may be any value from 0 to 65535 but is ignored by the EASY MCA STOP seg mask Stops the acquisition of spectral data The optional segment mask is provided for compati bility with other MCBs and may be any value from 0 to 65535 but is ignored 38 Acquisition presets 11 17 ADC Bale uos es v dace PR 3 18 ADC SCHIP icc EXEAT S PP 10
19. Jenkins R W Gould and Dale Gedcke Quantitative X Ray Spectrometry New York Marcel Dekker Inc 1981 pp 266 267 For the purposes of this manual when we refer to MAESTRO we mean the ORTEC emulator analysis application you are using e g MAESTRO GammaVision ScintiVision ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 Intentionally blank 2 GETTING STARTED 2 1 The EASY MCA 2 1 1 Front Panel Figure 1 shows the EASY MCA front panel Figure 1 EASY MCA Front Panel 2 1 1 1 Inputs and Connectors INPUT Accepts positive unipolar positive gated integrator or positive leading bipolar analog pulses in the dynamic range from 0 to 10 V 12 V maximum semi Gaussian shaped time constants from 0 25 us to 30 us gated integrator shaped time constants from 3 us to 30 us or delay line shaped with width 20 25 7 1 dc coupled No internal delay GATE Optional positive TTL input In MAESTRO select the Coincidence Anticoin cidence or Off gate mode from the ADC property page see Section 2 3 1 The signal must occur prior to and extend 0 5 us beyond the peak of the pulse Zp 1 e BUSY Used by live time correction circuits Accepts a TTL signal which must occur prior to peak detect 1 e PUR Pile up rejection input Accepts a TTL signal which must occur prior to peak detect Z 1 2 1 2 Rear Panel Figure 2 shows the
20. ORTEC EASY MCA 8K EASY MCA 2K Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual Printed in U S A ORTEC Part No 931044 1014 Manual Revision C Advanced Measurement Technology Inc AMT WARRANTY AMT warrants that the items will be delivered free from defects in material or workmanship AMT makes no other warranties express or implied and specifically NO WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AMT s exclusive liability is limited to repairing or replacing at AMT s option items found by AMT to be defective in workmanship or materials within one year from the date of delivery AMT s liability on any claim of any kind including negligence loss or damages arising out of connected with or from the performance or breach thereof or from the manufacture sale delivery resale repair or use of any item or services covered by this agreement or purchase order shall in no case exceed the price allocable to the item or service furnished or any part thereof that gives rise to the claim In the event AMT fails to manufacture or deliver items called for in this agreement or purchase order AMT s exclusive liability and buyer s exclusive remedy shall be release of the buyer from the obligation to pay the purchase price In no event shall AMT be liable for special or consequential damages Quality Control Before being approved for shipment each AMT instrument must pass a stringent set of quality control
21. Port Memory plug in cards ISA slot Click Done when you are TRUMP PCI cards finished DART or any other printer port based device LI microBASE i Item Description Miniature MCA 166 Check this entry if you Maca have any ORTEC USB digiDART RS232 based instrument except a DSPEC jr 95232 TLE O Mcs Pcl CO DigiBASE E Local Instrument list lt No instruments found gt Allow other computers to use this computer s instruments M Figure 4 Choose USB based instruments 2 2 2 Step 2 Install MAESTRO Install MAESTRO according to the instructions in its User Manual 2 2 3 Step 3 Connect the EASY MCA to the Computer 1 With the computer powered on connect the EAS Y MCA to computer s USB port 2 Windows will indicate that the EAS Y MCA has been detected In Windows 8 and 7 the driver will install without a wizard In XP the new hardware installation wizard will open Click Next indicate you do not wish to connect to the internet or the Microsoft website to locate the driver choose the automatically locate driver option and follow the remaining prompts to completion When this operation is complete you are ready to run the MCB Configuration program so that MAESTRO and other CONNECTIONS software can recognize the EAS Y MCA 931044 1014 2 GETTING STARTED 2 2 4 Step 4 Run MCB Configuration to Communicate With Your MCBs IMPORTANT This is an abb
22. Sets Gus eee tah Sati eee ay tes pu RE a epis ate 13 2 4 Troubleshooting rU E DR 14 2 4 1 MAESTRO Does Not Connect with EASY MCA 14 2 4 2 The MCB Configuration Program Hangs While Trying to Locate the BAS YMCA d cles edad IH 15 2 4 3 The EASY MCA Does Not Respond In MAESTRO 15 S SEECIFICATIONS ors aene vp eek See ils Ae e aer wb SYN eS 17 SM EASY MC Acne veces siot dh 17 3 1 1 Inputs and Connectors 18 3252 Battery Backup iere e leona Dottor v Reg ora C ded 18 3 1 3 Electrical and Mechanical ceu eue em Rc cR e heh ROPA ees d 18 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 32 Eeat re Mask BIS SIE DIN CREE WAREN RE SENE MEUM adu e 18 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES 23 41 Command F ormat ies de EU pu putei A s A Eo ER A p ge Des 23 a Rr REO CERES E 25 4 2 1 Dollar Response Records 24 4 2 2 MCB Commands c C RC 25 i Oe re Oe one lone oe BEL Oe ta EO ERI 39 Safety Instructions and Symbols This manual contains
23. W VIEW in MCBs with Dual Port Memory or printer port interfaces LIST VIEW in all MCBs Connected to MCB via RS 232 slow port No SET HV POSI SET HV NEGA ENA NAI and DIS N Low Frequency Rejecter ENA DIS SHOW Resolution Enhancer ENA DIS SH_RENHANCER SET SHOW RETABLE idx val SET MODE for Resolution Enhancer List Mode Readable Sample mode time per channel SH TIME SAMPLE Adjustable Sample mode time per channel SET LIST TIME SAMPLE List Mode data streamed and formatted as in digiBASE Supports ETP mode ENA DIS SHOW ETP List Mode data streamed and formatted as in DSPEC Pro SET SHOW LIST_PZ using floating point microseconds Risetime flattop width and cusp not changeable from property page HV not user changeable from property page requires Bit 12 21 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 Bit 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 22 Meaning Coarse and fine gain not user changeable from property page PZ and flattop tilt not user changeable from property page LFR not user changeable from property page requires Bit 96 Portal Monitor style List Mode Synch is available DSPEC Pro Auxilliary BNC input available SET_DISPLAY is NOT used to select ZDT data view requires Bit 93 ID Reports DO_ID SHOW_REPORT SHOW_REPO_LINES Has neutron detector SHOW_CRM 2 returns valid number Extended f
24. and AMT will provide a quotation Damage in Transit Shipments should be examined immediately upon receipt for evidence of external or concealed damage The carrier making delivery should be notified immediately of any such damage since the carrier is normally liable for damage in shipment Packing materials waybills and other such documentation should be preserved in order to establish claims After such notification to the carrier please notify AMT of the circumstances so that assistance can be provided in making damage claims and in providing replacement equipment if necessary Copyright 2014 Advanced Measurement Technology Inc All rights reserved ORTEC is a registered trademark of Advanced Measurement Technology Inc All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners NOTICE OF PROPRIETARY PROPERTY This document and the information contained in it are the proprietary property of AMETEK Inc It may not be copied or used in any manner nor may any of the information in or upon it be used for any purpose without the express written consent of an authorized agent of AMETEK Inc TABLE OF CONTENTS Safety Instructions and Symbols Cleaning INStrUCtIONS oe es tye hse qr LE 1 INTRODUCTION vores sinroro dd ie Ced CRO oe e tu 1 1 1 Host Computer and Software Requirements
25. cords in this chapter for more information about response records and checksums SHOW_CONFIGURATION_MASK Returns two masks the first of which can be anded with data from the MCB to clear the ROI bit from the data When the second mask value is anded with data from the MCB the data bits are removed and only the ROI bit remains Response CONF_MASK 02147483647 02147483648 SHOW_CONFIGURATION_UART Reports the baud rate parity option number of data bits and number of stop bits for the serial interface Responses F09600N81 9600 baud no parity 8 data bits 1 stop bit F19200E82 19200 baud even parity 8 data bits 2 stop bits F02400071 2400 baud odd parity 7 data bits 1 stop bits SHOW DATA APPLICATION string If string matches string1 in a previous SET DATA APPLICATION command then string2 from that command is returned The response is a F record SHOW DEVICE Reports which inputs are acquiring data The 16 bit answer is transmitted as a C response record which represents a binary mask of bits each representing one of the two inputs A 1 bit in the mask indicates that the corresponding segment is counting 31 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 Responses C00000087 CR Neither input is acquiring data C00001088 lt CR gt Only input 1 is acquiring data C00002089 lt CR gt Only input 2 is acquiring data C00003090 lt CR gt Both inputs 1 and 2 a
26. cquisition terminates SET PRESET MDAPreset PeakNumber Sets the MDAPreset PeakNumber value as shown in the equation in the SET MDA COEF description above MDAPreset is usually the product of the desired MDA the yield and the efficiency PeakNumber is a parameter that specifies which of up to 20 0 19 MDA presets to change If PeakNumber is omitted in the set command all MDA preset values will be set to 0 disabled and the supplied value will be applied to MDA Preset 0 This provides compatibility software that only supports the one nuclide MDA method implemented in some MCBs SET MODE PHA Sets the mode to PHA SET OUTPUT port value This sends the value to the port This command can be issued without entries for port and value because the EAS Y MCA has only one port If you wish to specify a port number it must be zero for this unit See also SHOW OUTPUT See also STEP OUTPUT SET PEAK PRESET count Sets the ROI peak preset to the specified count During data acquisition when the contents of any channel of a device that has the ROI flag set reaches the peak preset count the preset is complete and the acquisition is stopped The actual number of counts in the ROI peak may exceed the preset value by a small number of counts due to the pipelined architecture of the EASY MCA Setting a peak preset to O counts disables the preset The peak preset may be set to from 0 disabled to 2147483647 counts See also CLEAR PRESETS and SHOW _
27. eature mask available SH FEAT EXT 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES Software communication with the EASY MCA will take place through the CONNECTIONS soft ware layer CONNECTIONS is used by all ORTEC software and can be accessed for other software development with our CONNECTIONS Programmer s Toolkit with Microsoft ActiveX Controls A11 BW Use the DLL interface call MIOComm or the ActiveX control UCONN s Comm method to send commands to instruments and receive responses 4 1 Command Format The commands consist of a command header that may be followed by numeric parameter values The header consists of a verb a verb and noun or a verb noun and modifier each separated by underscores The first four letters of a word in a command will always be enough to uniquely identify that word when composing commands for the instrument For example the command ENABLE GAIN STABILIZATION can be abbreviated to GAIN STAB Numeric parameters are unsigned integer numbers that follow the command header separated by one or more spaces Specific commands require multiple parameters separated by commas that specify numeric quantities related to the operation of the MCB such as live time or conversion gain The command SET WINDOW 0 8192 has two parameters 0 and 8192 which set the window of interest to start at channel 0 and continue for 8192 channels Some parameters are optional and are delimited by square brackets in the command prototype
28. escriptions If you wish you can change the instrument ID Numbers and Descriptions by double clicking an instrument entry in the Configure Instruments dialog This will open the Change Description or ID dialog Fig 7 It shows the physical MCB location read only and allows you to change the ID Number and Description Change Description or ID Instrument Input System ID 132 1 USER PC 19 Description Figure 7 Change MCB Number or Description Make the desired changes and click Close Any changes you have made to an ID number or description will then be written back to the corresponding MCB this is a first time installation of ORTEC products all your instruments will be new 8 931044 1014 2 GETTING STARTED NOTE FOR MULTIPLE USERS ON A NETWORK There are two ways to reduce the chance that other users will renumber your MCBs Add the I flag to their MCB Configuration command line as described in the CONNECTIONS Driver Update Kit instructions This will allow you to assign whatever ID Numbers you wish regardless of the numbers assigned by other users on your network Ideally everyone using ORTEC instruments on your network should make this change To prevent others from renumbering your MCBs or performing any other actions except read only viewing password lock your MCBs with the MAESTRO Lock Unlock Detector command If you lock a detector that wi
29. ets the live time counter to the specified number of ticks The number represents live time in units of 20 ms 50 ticks s Normally this value is set by the EASY MCA during data acquisition See also CLEAR COUNTERS and SHOW LIVE SET LIVE PRESET ticks Sets the live time preset to the specified number of ticks 20 ms tick During data acquisi tion when the live time counter reaches the preset number of ticks the preset is complete and the acquisition is stopped Setting a live time preset to 0 ticks disables the preset See also CLEAR PRESETS and SHOW LIVE PRESET SET LLD chan Sets the lower level discriminator to chan which must be between 1 and 8191 See also SHOW LLD SET MARK Not used by the EASY MCA included for backward compatibility 28 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES SET_MDA_COEF a b c Sets the coefficients in the MDA preset calculation to the specified values A b and c are floating point values The MDA preset checks for the following condition to be met a b c Counts in ROI MDA Preset gt _ _______ Live Time The calculation is performed once every 30 seconds with starting at 0 and advancing through each of up to 20 unique MDA presets i only advances once the preset has been met Note that a b and are the same for each of the unique presets Only the ROI range and the MDA preset change when advances Once i reaches 20 or equals 0 the a
30. f channels of The SHOW_ROI command is used to report the first group of channels that all have their ROI bit set Example Responses D0100000050078 lt CR gt Next ROI group starts at channel 1000 and is 50 channels long 34 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES D0215000150086 lt CR gt Next ROI group starts at channel 2150 and is 150 channels long D0000000000072 lt CR gt No other ROI groups to report SHOW_OVERFLOW_PRESET Reports the state of the overflow preset Responses IT lt CR gt Overflow preset enabled IF CR Overflow preset disabled SHOW PEAK This command returns the contents of the ROI channel with the largest number of counts An ROI channel is a channel that has the ROI flag set The maximum possible value is 2147483647 which 1s the maximum number of counts that can be stored in a 31 bit channel Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt Maximum count in an ROI channel is zero or no ROI channels were found G0000000001076 lt CR gt Maximum count in an ROI channel is 1 G2147483646120 lt CR gt Maximum count in an ROI channel is 2147483646 G2147483647121 lt CR gt Maximum count in an ROI channel is 2147483647 SHOW PEAK CHANNEL This command returns the number of the ROI channel with the largest number of counts An ROI channel is a channel that has the ROI flag set The lowest number ROI channel with the largest count is reported if more that one channel contains the largest n
31. is list lower case letters represent numeric values The letters always represent an 8 bit 24 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES unsigned checksum of all characters on the record up to but not including the checksum charac ters and lt CR gt represents the ASCII carriage return character Axxxcecc lt CR gt xxx is a single 8 bit unsigned number Cxxxxxccc CR 15 a single 16 bit unsigned number Dxxxxxyyyyyccc lt CR gt and yyyyy are 16 bit unsigned numbers Exxxxxccc lt CR gt 15 a single 16 bit alarm mask F ssss lt CR gt 5555 15 a variable length ASCII character sequence checksum is sent with this record Gxxxxxxxxxxccc lt CR gt XXXXXXXXXX is a Single 32 bit unsigned number IT lt CR gt True response toa SHOW command no checksum IF lt CR gt False response to a SHOW command no checksum lt gt Response to SHOW_CONFIGURATION command Mxxxxxxxxxx ccccCR Response to SHOW STATUS command Nxxxyyyzzzccc lt CR gt yyy and zzz are 8 bit unsigned numbers 4 2 2 MCB Commands This section lists each command with a description of its operation The descriptions include a list of any error codes that may result As described in the two preceding sections the usual response is a macro error code of 0 and a micro error code of 0 no errors Though syntax and communication error responses may
32. ity 33 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 SHOW MDA COEF Reports the current settings for coeffficients a b and c used for the MDA calculation See SET MDA COEF Example Responses MDA COEF 000000000002 71 000000000000000 00000021 700001 Coefficient a 2 71 b 0 and 21 7 SHOW MDA PRESET PeakNumber Reports MDA preset PeakNumber If PeakNumber is omitted 0 is assumed Example Response MDA PRES 0000000000025 7 SHOW MODE Reports the current mode of operation PHA mode only for the EASY MCA See also SET MODE PHA Responses FPHA lt CR gt PHA mode SHOW_MONI_LABEL num Returns with an ASCII string label designation for the state of health parameter for num SHOW MONI MAX Returns with the number of state of health values available for viewing SHOW MONI VALUE num Returns with an ASCII representation of the value for the state of health parameter SHOW NEXT Used in conjunction with the SHOW ROI command SHOW NEXT reports the next continuous group of channels that have the ROI flag set The response is of the form Dsssssnnnnncce lt CR gt where sssss represents an integer number that is the number of the first channel of the next group of channels that all have their ROI bit set and nnnnn represents an integer number that is the number of channels in the group If no more channels have their ROI bit set SHOW NEXT returns a first channel of 0 and a number o
33. lation of the activity in the sample with the least activity But if the sample contains a large amount of this or another nuclide the dead time could be high resulting in a long counting time for the sample If you set the ROI Peak preset in addition to the Live Time preset the low level samples will be counted to the desired fixed live time while the very active samples will be counted for the ROI peak count In this circumstance the ROI Peak preset can be viewed as a safety valve Enter the Real Time and Live Time presets in units of seconds and fractions of a second These values are stored internally with a resolution of 20 milliseconds ms since the MCB clock incre ments by 20 ms Real time means elapsed time or clock time Live time refers to the amount of time that the MCB is available to accept another pulse 1 15 not busy and is equal to the real time minus the dead time the time the MCB is not available Enter the ROI Peak count preset value in counts With this preset condition the MCB stops counting when any ROI channel reaches this value unless there are no ROIs marked in the MCB in which case that MCB continues counting until the count is manually stopped Enter the ROI Integral preset value in counts With this preset condition the MCB stops count ing when the sum of all counts in all channels for this MCB marked with an ROI reaches this value This has no function if no ROIs are marked in the MCB The Uncertaint
34. ll be controlled by a JOB stream remember to include the proper password unlock commands in your JOB file see the MAESTRO user manual If a modified description has already been applied to a particular instrument you can restore the default description by deleting the entry in the Description field and re running MCB Config uration After MCB Configuration runs the default description will be displayed 2 2 5 Attaching More Than One EASY MCA to the Computer Once the drivers have been installed for one EASY MCA adding subsequent units is simple REMINDER Be sure to run MCB Configuration any time you add new EASY MCAs or other ORTEC MCBs to your system or when you move an instrument from one USB port to another 2 2 6 Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Computer The USB connection allows you to connect EAS Y MCAs to and disconnect them from USB port without shutting down the computer or USB hub Note that if MAESTRO is running when you disconnect the EASY MCA you will see a detector not responding message on the status line at the bottom of the MAESTRO window When you reconnect the EASY MCA to the com puter you will have to reselect it from the detector droplist on the Toolbar 2 3 EASY MCA MCB Properties in MAESTRO This section discusses the hardware setup dialog you will see within MAESTRO and all other ORTEC CONNECTIONS software e g GammaVision ISOTOPIC when you click Acquire MCB Properties The E
35. mand are set to zero The ROI flags are not changed nor are the presets changed CLEAR MDA PRESET Clears all MCA preset values This command is used to quickly clear the list of MDA preset values CLEAR PRESETS The live time true time ROI integral ROI peak and overflow presets are all set to zero disabled CLEAR ROI The region of interest flags for the channels in the window of interest see SET WINDOW command in the currently selected device see SET DEVICE command are cleared DISABLE OVERFLOW PRESET Disables the overflow preset Channels that receive a count when they contain 2147483647 counts the maximum number of counts will roll over to zero counts if the overflow preset is disabled See also ENABLE OVERFLOW PRESET and SHOW OVERFLOW PRESET ENABLE OVERFLOW PRESET Enables the overflow preset Channels that receive a count when they contain 2147483647 counts the maximum number of counts will stop the acquisition if the overflow preset is enabled The channel that caused the preset to complete will contain 2147483647 counts See also DISABLE OVERFLOW PRESET and SHOW OVERFLOW PRESET commands INITIALIZE Returns the EAS Y MCA including flash to the factory default settings including resetting the MCB Configuration instrument ID number to zero 26 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES LIST_DISPLAY Not used by the EASY MCA included for backward compatibility LIST_GAIN_CONV Lists legal conve
36. minator edge Software programmable MCS mode discriminator level Software programmable SCA upper and lower thresholds Software selectable MCS mode input sources Uncertainty statistical preset SET_UNCERT_PRES Features vary by input SHOW_FEATURES depends on device segment multi input MCBs only Software selectable HV shutdown mode SET SHOW VERI_SHUT Software selectable shaping time constants SET_SHAP Explorable shaping time constants SHOW_CONFIG_SHAP Advanced shaping time SET_SHAP_RISE SET_SHAPE_FLAT etc Software selectable BLR ENA DIS SHO_BLR_AUTO SET SHO VERI SHOW STATUS command supported returns M record Overflow preset ENA DIS SHO OVER PRES Software enabled MicroNOMAD style audio clicker ENA DIS CLICK Software readable thermistor SHOW Floating point fine gain SET SHO VERI LIST GAIN FINE Software enabled pileup rejector ENA DIS SHO PUR SET VERI WIDT REJ Alpha style HV power SHOW HV CURRENT Software readable vacuum SHOW VACUUM Acquisition alarms ENA DIS SHO ALARM Hardware acquisition trigger ENA DIS SHO TRIG Ordinal numbers for shaping times SET SHAP 0 SET SHAP 1 Explorable gain ranges LIST VERI GAIN FINE COAR CONV Routable inputs SET SHOW INPUT ROUTE External dwell support ENA DIS DWELL EXT Selectable SUM or REPLACE MCS modes ENA DIS SUM External start of pass support ENA DIS SHO START EXT Explorable with MCS list commands LIST SOURCE LIST LLSCA
37. nfiguration successfully locates the EASY MCA but the unit does not respond within MAESTRO cycle the power to the EASY MCA by disconnecting and reconnecting its power cable For further assistance contact your ORTEC representative or our Global Service Center 15 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 Intentionally blank 16 3 SPECIFICATIONS 3 1 EASY MCA ADC type with sliding scale linearization Max Resolution 8K model Software selectable as 8192 4096 2048 1024 512 and 256 2K model Software selectable as 2048 1024 512 and 256 Dead Time per Event 2 us including memory transfer Integral Nonlinearity lt 0 025 over the top 99 of the dynamic range Differential Nonlinearity lt 1 over the top 99 of the dynamic range Gain Instability x50 ppm C Dead Time Correction Software selectable Gedcke Hale extended live time correction method Data Memory 512 channels of battery backed up memory per MCB 2 1 counts per channel gt 2 10 LLD Software selectable from 1 to 100 full scale ULD Software selectable from 0 to 100 full scale Presets Real Time Live Time Multiples of 20 ms Region of Interest Peak count Integral count Data Overflow Terminates acquisition when any channel exceeds 2 1 Peak Uncertainty Stops acquisition when the statistical or counting uncertainty of
38. not update the existing CorrectionFactors and your MDA presets may no longer be applicable When using spectrum analysis applications such as GammaVision and ScintiVision you can create an analysis options file SDF or SVD file for each system geometry that you use and include in it a set of MDA presets specific to that geometry efficiency calibration and nuclide library You can then recall this tailored analysis options file as needed 2 4 Troubleshooting 2 4 1 MAESTRO Does Not Connect with the EASY MCA If properly installed and functioning MAESTRO software or other ORTEC spectroscopy applications cannot find and communicate with the EASY MCA check for the following The EASY MCA does not have power The USB cable is not properly connected 14 931044 1014 2 GETTING STARTED In MAESTRO issue the Services Edit Detector List command to display the Master Instrument List If EASY MCA is not on the list cycle its power by disconnecting and reconnecting its power cable then rerun the MCB Configuration program 2 4 2 The MCB Configuration Program Hangs While Trying to Locate the EASY MCA If MCB Configuration hangs 1 fails to run to completion click on Cancel then cycle the power to the EASY MCA by disconnecting and reconnecting its power cable The MCB Configuration program will close Re run MCB Configuration 2 4 3 The EASY MCA Does Not Respond In MAESTRO If MCB Co
39. nstall wizard s Instrument Setup page 2 Install the accompanying MAESTRO MCA Emulation Software A65 BW 3 Connect the EASY MCA to the USB port on the computer 4 Run MCB Configuration program to build a list of available ORTEC MCBs 2 2 1 Step 1 Install the CONNECTIONS Driver Update The first step is to install the CONNECTIONS Driver Update Kit P N 797230 according to its instruction sheet This software must be installed before MAESTRO can be installed The update kit s instructions tell how to install CONNECTIONS enable disable the drivers for your ORTEC 5 and share ORTEC instruments across a network On the Instrument Families page be sure to mark the USB based instruments checkbox as shown in Fig 4 Otherwise the EASY MCA will not be able to communicate with the computer and MAESTRO software At the end of installation you will be directed to restart the computer If you also have other types of MCBs attached to this computer refer to the installation instruc tions in the corresponding hardware manuals Note that you can install device drivers for other types of instruments later as described in the CONNECTIONS Driver Update Kit instructions ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 931044 1014 Instrument Setup E 4 Instrument Families Please check all items in this list that are connected to or DPM USB installed in this computer Dual
40. pply 12 V dc 1 25 A center contact positive 3 1 2 Battery Backup The memory in the EASY MCA has battery backup to maintain data when power is turned off Lithium battery P N 739480 3 V nominal Remove the enclosure and locate the battery on the lower left corner of the EASY MCA board After removing the old battery you may have to bend the battery holder down to obtain good contact with the new battery 3 1 3 Electrical and Mechanical Dimensions 3 5cmH x 13 4 cm W x 20 5 cm D 1 4 in x 5 3 in x 8 1 in Weight 0 6 kg 1 3 Ib 3 2 Feature Mask Bits The following table describes the feature bits from the SHOW FEATURES command discussed on page 32 If the feature is supported in the EASY MCA the bit is set to 1 if the feature is not supported the bit is 0 18 931044 1014 3 SPECIFICATIONS eo ex OU WW NY N N KN Lm rm A LU Nae RA 5 DO 9 tA FW Meaning Software selectable conversion gain Software selectable coarse gain Software selectable fine gain Gain stabilizer Zero stabilizer PHA mode functions available MCS mode functions available 918 style list mode functions available Sample mode functions available Digital Offset e g 920 Software selectable analog offset HV power supply Enhanced HV SET HV SET SHOW_HV_POL SHOW HV ACT Software selec
41. re acquiring data SHOW_FEATURES Responds with four 32 bit masks indicating which features are present in the MCB See Section 3 2 for a complete description of each bit in the mask Example Response FEATURES 02285062207 02014941185 00000000000 00000000000 SHOW_GAIN_CONVERSION This command returns the conversion gain Responses C00512095 lt CR gt Conversion gain reported as 512 channels C01024094 lt CR gt Conversion gain reported as 1024 channels C02048101 lt CR gt Conversion gain reported as 2048 channels C04096106 lt CR gt Conversion gain reported as 4096 channels C08192107 lt CR gt Conversion gain reported as 8192 channels SHOW_GATE Reports the current mode of operation of the ADC gate input See also SET_GATE_OFF SET_GATE_COINCIDENT and SET_GATE_ANTICOINCIDENT Responses FOFF lt CR gt Reports the ADC gate is off or ignored FCOI lt CR gt Reports the ADC gate is in coincident mode FANT lt CR gt Reports the ADC gate is in anticoincident mode SHOW INTEGRAL start_chan number_of_chans 32 Reports the sum of the specified group of spectral data channels If start chan and number of chans is not provided SHOW INTEGRAL reports the sum of all channels in the currently selected window that have their ROI flag set Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt Integral reported as 0 G4294967294131 lt CR gt Integral reported as 4294967294 G4294967295132 lt CR gt Integral reported as greater than
42. result from any command in practice these error responses rarely occur on systems with reliable communication hardware running debugged software The commands are listed in alphabetical order each starting with a command prototype line Uppercase letters numeric digits blank space and special symbols such as the underscore _ and comma 13 in the prototype line are literal text to be sent to the MCB exactly as they appear Lowercase letters in the prototype line represent numeric values as described in the accompanying text they should not be sent literally to the MCB but should be replaced by an appropriate numeric value In this section the term lt CR gt represents the ASCII carriage return character decimal value 13 and the character _ represents the ASCII underscore character decimal value 95 CLEAR The channels of spectral data in the window of interest see SET WINDOW command are set to zero The live time and true time counters are also set to zero This command is equivalent to the combination of CLEAR COUNTERS and CLEAR DATA commands 25 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 CLEAR ALL This command is equivalent to the combination of CLEAR COUNTERS CLEAR DATA CLEAR PRESETS and CLEAR ROI commands CLEAR COUNTERS The live time and true time counters are set to zero CLEAR DATA The channels of spectral data in the window of interest see SET WINDOW com
43. reviated discussion of the operation and use of the MCB Configuration program We strongly recommend that you read the instructions for the CONNECTIONS Driver Update Kit for complete details on the command line arguments that change how the program searches for MCBs customizing MCB ID Numbers and Descriptions changing your Windows firewall settings to allow MCB access across a network enabling additional device drivers and troubleshooting 1 Make sure the EASY MCA is connected and powered on 2 Connect and power on all other local and network ORTEC instruments to be used as well as their associated computers Otherwise the MCB Configuration program will not detect them during installation Any instruments not detected can be configured at a later time 3 To start the software type mcb in Search programs and files box on the Windows Start menu then click the MCB Configuration search result or open the Windows Start menu and click MAESTRO then MCB Configuration The MCB Configuration program will locate all of the powered on ORTEC MCBs on the local computer and the network and display the list of instruments found the Master Instrument List Fig 5 If you wish you may enter customized instrument ID numbers and descriptions Section 2 2 4 2 When you close the dialog any changes you have made to an ID number or description will be written back to the corresponding MCB r Configure Instruments Version 8 01 N
44. rsion gain settings Response GAIN CONV 256 512 1024 2048 4096 8192 8K model GAIN_CONV 256 512 1024 2048 2K model RESET No function in the EASY MCA included for backward compatibility SET DATA start chans value If the optional start and chans parameters are included in this command the range of chan nels specified by start and chans is loaded with value If start and chans are not specified sets all channels of spectral data in the window of interest see SET WINDOW command to the specified value ROI flags are not affected SET DATA APPLICATION string2 This is used to store information in the EASY MCA internal memory that can be used by other programs such as sample descriptions and energy calibrations CONNECTIONS uses this feature String the data identifier 32 bytes maximum string2 the data 128 bytes maximum SET DEVICE No function in the EASY MCA included for backward compatibility SET GAIN CONVERSION chans Sets the conversion gain The conversion gain defines the number of channels within the device that will used for spectral data This has the effect of altering the resolution of the from 13 bits conversion gain 8192 to 9 bits conversion gain 512 for the device See also SHOW GAIN CONVERSION Legal Commands SET GAIN CONVERSION 0 lt CR gt Conversion gain set to default 8192 SET GAIN CONVERSION 512 CR Conversion gain set to 512 channels SET GAIN CONVERSION
45. sets the upper level discriminator to value in channels SET UNCERTAINTY PRESET percent Sets the uncertainty preset to the specified value in percent Percent is a floating point value from 0 99 9999 See also SHOW UNCERTAINTY PRESET SET WINDOW start length Sets the window of interest to the specified start channel and number of channels The chan nels of spectral data in the window of interest are affected by commands such as CLEAR SET DATA and WRITE If neither start nor length is provided the window is set to the maximum size allowed by the conversion gain specified The window of interest is always set to the maximum size after a SET DEVICE command or a SET SEGMENT command 30 931044 1014 4 FIRMWARE COMMANDS AND RESPONSES SHOW_ACTIVE Returns a if the EASY MCA is active 1 acquiring spectral data or if it is not active Responses C00000087 lt CR gt Not active C00001088 lt CR gt Active SHOW_CONFIGURATION Returns a record that indicates the hardware configuration of the MCB The record contains information about the number of segments in an MCB always 1 for the EASY MCA and the current conversion gain for each segment The record is organized as follows J0819200001aaaaa00000 65 zeros here for total of 75 zeros 00000ccc where aaaaa represents the conversion gain for the one and only segment in the currently selected device and ccc represents the record checksum See the section on response re
46. t 2x10 counts 2 3 5 MDA Preset The MDA preset Fig 11 can monitor Properties for Easy MCA xs up to 20 nuclides at one time and stops data collection when the values of the minimum detectable activity for all of the user specified MDA nuclides reach the specified MDA Preset Nucl Energy value Presets are expressed in Bq MDA Preset Coefficients and are evaluated every 40 seconds Correction cA 0 000000 The detector must be calibrated for Nuclide Cd 109 B 0 000000 energy in all spectroscopy applica Energy gt keV 0 000000 tions and for efficiency in all appli cations but MAESTRO Close The MDA presets are implemented Figure 11 EASY MCA MDA Preset Tab in the MCB 1 the entries you make on this screen are saved in the MCB memory and have no direct link to MDA methods selected in the analysis options for applications such as GammaVision ScintiVision ISOTOPIC etc The MDA preset calculation uses the following formula MDA a b c Counts Live time CorrectionFactor where a b and c are determined by the MDA criteria you choose Counts is the gross counts in an ROI that is 2 5xFWHM around the target peak energy Live time is evaluated in 40 second intervals for the MDA presets CorrectionFactor is the product of the calibration efficiency at the specified peak energy and the peak s branching ratio yield as listed in the working active library
47. table HV range DIS Auto PZ START PZ AUTO Software selectable manual PZ SET SHOW PZ Battery backed real time clock SHOW DATE TIME SHOW DATE TIME START Sample changer support SET SHOW OUTPUT SHOW INPUT One button acquisition ENA DIS SHOW TRIG SPEC MOVE Nomadic likely to move between opens Local app data SET DATA APP SHOW DATA APP Software retrievable serial number SHOW SNUM Power management commands Battery status support SHOW STAT Software selectable AMP polarity SET SHOW GAIN POLAR Support for flattop optimization ENA DIS Stoppable AutoPZ STOP PZ AUTO Network support e g DSPEC Multi drop serial support e g MicroNOMAD Software selectable DPM address SET DPM ADDR Multiple devices e g 919 Software selectable ADC gate mode SET Software downloadable firmware Time histogramming functions available e g 9308 Software selectable lower level discriminator Software selectable upper level discriminator 19 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 Bit 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 20 Meaning MCS mode SCA input available MCS mode positive TTL input available MCS mode fast negative NIM input available MCS mode discriminator input available Software switchable MCS mode discri
48. umber amp Description Close 1 DSPec 2 DSPec _ Cancel 3 0550 00 202 MCB 1 4 DS50 11195158 MCB 1 5 0550 11195158 MCB 2 Help 7 Station 6 Right 8 Station 5 Left 11 Station 3 13 Station 4 Renumber 14 DSPEC PRO MCB 129 Renumber New Instr Input System Figure 5 MCB Numbering and Descriptions ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 931044 1014 2 2 4 1 Configuring a New Instrument The first time a new instrument is detected the This is the first time you have configured these detectors dialog shown in Fig 6 will remind you that E gea i all new instruments must be assigned a unique numbers for your detectors non zero ID number Click OK You can either manually change the ID Number and Description as described in the next subsection or you can click the Renumber New button Figure 6 New Instruments Must Have a Non to renumber only the new instruments Zero ID Number NOTE We strongly recommend not using the Renumber All button In addition we strongly recommend not renumbering MCBs that belong to other users as this could affect the interaction between their MCBs and their ORTEC software for instance if they control their MCBs with JOB files e g the JOB file command SET DETECTOR 5 or use the GammaVision or ISOTOPIC spectroscopy applications See also the NOTE FOR MULTIPLE USERS ON A NETWORK in the next section 2 2 4 2 Customizing ID Numbers and D
49. umber of counts Channel 8191 is the highest numbered channel in any device Responses C00000087 CR Maximum count was found in channel 0 or no ROI channels were found C00001088 lt CR gt Maximum count was found in channel 1 C08191107 lt CR gt Maximum count was found in channel 8191 SHOW PEAK PRESET Reports the value of the ROI peak preset See SET PEAK PRESET for information about the ROI peak preset Responses G0000000000075 lt CR gt Peak preset disabled G0000000001076 lt CR gt Peak preset set to 1 count 35 ORTEC EASY MCA Digital Gamma Ray Spectrometer User s Manual 951044C 1014 G2147483646120 lt CR gt Peak preset set to 2147483646 counts G2147483647121 lt CR gt Peak preset set to 2147483647 counts SHOW_ROI Used in conjunction with the SHOW NEXT command SHOW ROI reports the first continuous group of channels that have the ROI flag set The response is of the form Dsssssnnnnncce lt CR gt where sssss represents an integer number that is the number of the first channel of the first group of channels that all have their ROI bit set and nnnnn represents an integer number that is the number of channels in the group The SHOW_NEXT command is used to report the next group of channels that all have their ROI bit set Responses D0100000050078 lt CR gt First ROI group starts at channel 1000 and is 50 channels long D0215000150086 lt CR gt First ROI group starts at channel 2150
50. up to three levels of safety instructions that must be observed in order to avoid personal injury and or damage to equipment or other property These are DANGER Indicates a hazard that could result in death or serious bodily harm if the safety instruction is not observed WARNING Indicates a hazard that could result in bodily harm if the safety instruction is not observed CAUTION Indicates a hazard that could result in property damage if the safety instruction is not observed In addition the following symbols may appear on the product AN DANGER Hazardous voltage ATTENTION Consult the manual in all cases where this symbol is marked in order to determine the nature of the potential hazards and any actions that must be taken to avoid them Protective earth ground terminal Please read all safety instructions carefully and make sure you understand them fully before attempting to use this product Cleaning Instructions To clean the instrument exterior Disconnect the instrument from the power source Remove loose dust on the outside of the instrument with a lint free cloth Remove remaining dirt with a lint free cloth dampened in a general purpose detergent and water solution Do not use abrasive cleaners CAUTION prevent moisture inside of the instrument during external cleaning use only enough liquid to dampen the cloth or applicator Allow the instrument to dry completely before reconnecting it to
51. y preset stops acquisition when the statistical or counting uncertainty of a user selected net peak reaches the value you have entered Enter the Preset in value as percent uncertainty at 1 sigma of the net peak area The range is from 99 to 0 196 in 0 1 steps You have complete control over the selected peak region The region must be at least 7 channels wide with 3 channels of background on each side of the peak Note that MAESTRO calculates this preset once per 40 seconds Therefore the software will continue data acquisition up to 40 seconds after the preset has been reached and the uncertainty achieved for a high count rate sample may be lower than the preset value Use the Start Channel and Width fields to enter the channel limits directly or click on Suggest Region If the marker is positioned in an ROI around the peak of interest Suggest Region reads the limits of the ROI with the marker and display those limits in the Start Chan and Width fields The ROI can be cleared after the preset is entered without affecting the uncertainty calcu lation If the marker is not positioned in an ROI the start channel is 1 5 times the FWHM below the marker channel and the width is 3 times the FWHM The net peak area and statistical uncertainty are calculated in the same way as the MAESTRO Peak Info command 12 931044 1014 2 GETTING STARTED Marking the Overflow checkbox terminates acquisition when data in any channel exceeds 2 1 g

ORTEC EASY-MCA 8K and 2K User Manual 931044C

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