MCA166-USB Miniature Multi-Channel Analyzer User’s Manual Version 3.0 GBS Elektronik GmbH Bautzner Landstraße 22 01454 Großerkmannsdorf Germany Tel.: 0049 (0)351 21 70 07 – 0 Fax.: 0049 (0)351 21 70 07 – 21 E-Mail: kontakt@gbs-elektronik.de Website: www.gbs-elektronik.
MCA166-USB Exclusion of liability The GBS Elektronik GmbH is not liable for errors and does not guarantee the specific utility of the MCA166-USB software or firmware. In particular, the GBS Elektronik GmbH is not liable for indirect or subsequent damages due to errors of the MCA166-USB software or firmware. The information in this manual has been carefully reviewed and is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, the GBS Elektronik GmbH assumes no liabilities for inaccuracies in this manual.
Table of Contents 1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................5 2 Hardware..........................................................................................................................6 2.1 Users safety information...........................................................................................6 2.1.1 Power Source......................................................................................
MCA166-USB 6.1.6 Battery............................................................................................................18 6.1.7 Computer Interface........................................................................................19 6.1.8 Mechanical specification................................................................................19 6.1.9 Environmental ratings....................................................................................19 6.2 Diagrams and pin connections...
1 Introduction The MiniMCA MCA166-USB is a battery powered high performance 4K Multi-Channel Analyzer/Multi-Channel Scaler module comparable in its performance with laboratory grade MCA. High voltage supply for detector and preamplifier power supply are integrated as well as an internal amplifier and pulse shaping network.
MCA166-USB 2 Hardware 2.1 Users safety information Read all these instructions first! Save these instructions for later use. Do Not Remove Connectors To avoid personal injury or damage of equipment, do not remove the connectors for the High Voltage supply, preamplifier supply, and the input connector until the High Voltage is shut down and the device is switched off at least for 1 minute. Do Not Remove Covers Do not open the device before the power is switched off. 2.1.
2.2.1 Power management The MCA166-USB works with a built in rechargeable Li-Ion battery, which has no memory effect and is deep discharge and short circuit protected. If the device is working, the remaining battery life time is permanently checked. When the battery voltage has dropped down to 6.8 Volts, while a data collection is in progress, the MCA166-USB gives out a warning to the user (the lamp will flash irregularly and the software will show an error message).
MCA166-USB 2.2.3 Charging the MCA166-USB Charging the MCAs battery is usually done by connecting the wall adapter to the ”Charger In” connector and power it from the mains supply. The wall adapter is able to deliver enough power to operate the MCA166-USB stationary under a maximum load condition (HV on, detector draws up to 2W preamplifier power). If the MCA166-USB is operated on a high power USB hub and the wall adapter isn’t connected, the MCA166-USB can be charged from the USB port.
2.2.5 Connection of detectors To connect a detector switch the device off. Before connecting the high voltage connector of the detector make sure that the built in High Voltage supply has the correct polarity and that the power consumption of the detector does not exceed the maximum value ( 0.5mA or 0.25 Watt). On the right side of the MCA166-USB case (front view) the high voltage indicator is located (Figure 1).
MCA166-USB Typical errors which may be observed with the detector preamp signal are: ● Rise time is too slow (>0.5 µs). This may cause that the pile up rejector does not work correctly. There may be even a large amount of regular pulses rejected and especially the high energetic part of the spectrum seriously affected. When using such detectors switch pile up rejection off. ● The fall time is too fast (time constant resp. 1/e fall time < 40µs).
3.2 SPEC (MS-DOS), WinSPEC (Windows) These programs are the default programs for measuring spectra. It supports semiautomated measurements of gamma ray spectra with the MCA166-USB. The spectra are stored on mass storage media on a PC. There are two variants of WinSPEC. WinSPEC-I (for Inspectors) was designed for standard use. WinSPEC-A (for Automation) was designed for unattended measurements.
MCA166-USB 3.7 RATE This program supports measurements of count rates with any radiation detector (HPGe, NaI, CdTe, CdZnTe and neutron counters). In the most convenient mode of operation only the menu button "measurement" needs to be "pressed" to start a measurement and showing the count rates in form of a LCD display and a bar graph. 3.8 WinSCAN WinSCAN is used for candu bundle verifications. WinSCAN is in its features somewhere between MCA and MCS.
3.10 MCAPlot and MCAPrint MCAPlot and MCAPrint are programs to view and print spectra recorded with the MCA166-USB. Up to 32 spectra can be viewed at the same time and be printed on one page. Also some evaluation functions are available. MCAPlot is not included in the MCA price. MCAPrint is a free downgraded version of MCAPlot. 3.11 MMCAEVAL MMCAEVAL is a program for evaluating groups of spectra and extracting information to a MS Access style data base. 3.
MCA166-USB 3.13 Miscellaneous For communication and evaluation some libraries for MS Windows and Linux are available. This may help the make own application programs or to integrate the MCA166-USB in an existing system. 4 MCA166-USB parameters for use with different detectors This table shall just give an overview of possible settings useful with the MCA166-USB. It is far from being complete. For actual settings with your detector, see the detectors manual.
5 Some of the most important photon energies Table 3: Photon energies for different isotopes Isotope Half-life Energy (keV) Branching ratio (%) Am241 432.2y 26.34/59.54 2.4/36 Cd109 462.6d 88.03 3.63 Bi214 19.9min, daughter of Ra226 609.31 46.09 Ce139 137.64d 165.86 79.87 Co60 5.271y 1173.23/1332.49 99.85/99.98 Co57 271.8d 14.4/122.06/136.47 9.16/85.6/10.68 Cs137 30.07y 661.66 85.1 Eu152 13.3.y 121.77/344.28/778.91/ 28.38/26.59/12.98/14.46/ 964.11/1112.07/1408. 13.57/20.
MCA166-USB 6 Technical Data 6.1 MCA166-USB Hardware Specifications 6.1.1 Amplifier 1. Type ● Gaussian programmable shaping amplifier with pile-up rejector and gated base line restorer 2. Gain ● From 1 ... 1000 ● Minimum gain step 0.5 channel for 2K scale ● Gain tuning under visual control of spectrum ● Gain adjustment by peak stabilizer ● Integral linearity of amplifier <0.1% for full output range 3.
6.1.2 ADC 1. Successive approximation ADC with sliding scale linearisation ● Channel splitting 128, 256, 512, 1K, 2K, or 4K ● Full input voltage range 3V, positive and negative (10V with external attenuator) 2. ADC Dead time (including time needed to write into memory) ● < 8 µsec 3. Nonlinearities ● Differential nonlinearity (over 95% channel range) <2% ● Integral nonlinearity (over 95% channel range) <0.1% 4.
MCA166-USB 6.1.3 Power supply ● Power supply adequate for commonly used NaI, HPGe, CdTe and proportional counters ● Current limited mode with indication of overload condition through software; short circuit protected and automated recovery after overload or shortening 6.1.4 Preamplifier Voltages ● ± 12V; maximum current 60mA for each of the voltages ● ± 24V; maximum current 60mA for each of the voltages ● Maximum total power at least 2W 6.1.
6.1.7 Computer Interface ● RS-232C serial port ● USB 1.1; virtual COM port is used ● 38.400Baud and 307.200Baud; both baud rates available on both interfaces ● proprietary software protocol 6.1.8 Mechanical specification ● Size: 155mm x 95mm x 45mm (footprint of palmtop HP200LX) ● Weight: app. 700g (incl. battery) 6.1.9 Environmental ratings ● Range of storage temperature: -20°C ... +60°C ● Range of operational temperatures: 0°C ...
MCA166-USB 6.
Table 4: Wiring Diagram of the Charger Input Connector (female Lemo 00-302) Contact Signal 1 + charge voltage 2 - charge voltage Table 5: Wiring Diagram of the PC Interface Connector (female Lemo 0S-306) Contact Signal 1 5V USB 2 D- USB 3 D+ USB 4 GND 5 RxD RS232 (Input) 6 TxD RS232 (Output) Table 6: Preamplifier Power Supply Connector (D9 female) Contact Voltage max. Current 1 GND 2 GND 3 - 4 +12 V 5 HV-Inhibit Signal ext.
MCA166-USB 7 Troubleshooting General Remark: Before changing anything concerning the hardware, plugging or pulling cables etc. shut down the high voltage and switch off the MCA. Soldering or manipulating with the SMD boards is strongly not recommended for users. We have specialists for that. If you have a problem which cannot be solved by the table below, contact us. If it is really a hardware fault, we can repair this for a fair price. 1.
5. The threshold of the spectrum seems to be much higher than expected. ● The input polarity may be wrong. Does the threshold depend on radioactive source and count rate? Try some other input polarity. ● P/Z may not be set correctly. Please check if P/Z is correctly adjusted. ● If the lower cutoff rises by itself, this is most probable caused by the auto threshold circuit which is responsible for detecting the noise level and adjusting the threshold to it.
MCA166-USB 12. Bad resolution in a HPGe spectrum or from a test generator, specially at high amplification factors ● Check electrical noise and EMC compatibility of surroundings. Some laptops and also some switch mode power supply battery chargers may disturb. Remove all connections from the MCA to ground or to mains voltages. Try a different computer / laptop / palmtop. ● Winding the cable to the detector / computer several times around a ferrite ring also may help 13.
APPENDIX 1 - MCA166-USB spectral data format The MiniMCA spectral data format is in compliance with the IAEA SPE Spectral Data Format (see SPEDAC PRO User’s Manual Rel. 1.0, IAEA, Feb 1994). All information is stored in a block structured ASCII BSA file so that its content can be viewed with any text editor and the file content can be printed directly. Each block of the file is identified by a string that starts with the dollar sign ($) and ends with a colon (:). The block name is case sensitive.
MCA166-USB Setup Information FILE CONTENT $ADC: 4096 0 3967 $PRESETS: Integral 10000 1 266 332 $PZC_VALUE: 1232 15 15 $FAST_DISCR: 400 $SLOW_DISCR: 400 $THR: 2 $GAIN_VALUE: 200 1.0261 $DTC: 1 4.
Setup information - continued $MCS_CHANNELS: 4096 $MCS_INPUT: Extern TTL $MCS_TIME: 10 $MCS_SWEEPS: 0 0 $MODE: MCA $MCA_REPEAT: 1 0 $TDF 800 $POWER_STATE: I+12= 8mA I-12= 3mA I+24= 0mA I-24= 1mA IBAT= 135mA IHV = 14mA ICHR= 0mA UBAT=7900mV UHVs= 418mV $COUNTS: 8370252 $PD_COUNTS: 5113594 $RT: 203 $DT: 883027 $BT: 64042 $STAB_OFFSET: 315 $STAB_OFFSET_MIN: 310 $STAB_OFFSET_MAX: 408 $STAB_COUNTER: 19 Multi Channel Scaler (MCS) Setup Channels MCS input Extern TTL (external TTL signal), Input Rate (count rate f
MCA166-USB Setup information’s – continued FILE CONTENT $REC_COUNTER: 2823 $REC_ERROR_COUNTER: 2 $SPEC_INTEGRAL: 4098917 $ROI_INFO: 1 266 332 299.74 24.19 1233477 2066 EXPLANATION Counter of received commands Counter of received commands with errors Counts in the spectrum 1142868 ROI information ROI# Begin End Centroid FWHM Integral Area Area_Error According to the specifications other blocks can be added depending on the type of the application.
WinSPEC (inspection information if CsRation is attached) FILE CONTENT EXPLANATION $WINSPEC_INFO: ANALYSIS:CSRATIO 1999/001 1969/12/31 Inspector1/Inspector2 DIV1/DIV2 FACC ItemID 1997/01/01 0.000 Mwd/tU 0.000 0.00E00 0.
MCA166-USB WinSCAN (inspection information) FILE CONTENT EXPLANATION $WINSCAN_INFO: 1999/001 1999/11/01 Inspector1/Inspector2 DIV1/DIV2 Facility name FACC MBA ItemID Stratum Item description ICOD 0156 8289/025 NAJ 9475/029 1234/345 2356/432 3478/384 3456/419 2578/456 1000/150 0.000 OUT Good measurement.
UF6 / WinUF6 (inspection information) - continued FILE CONTENT EXPLANATION ICOD 0156 8289/025 NAJ 9475/029 Collimator Filter Instrument code5 MMCA ID Computer ID Detector type Detector ID Collimator Filter U235 / WinU235 (inspection information) FILE CONTENT EXPLANATION $INSP_INFO: 123 19991006 Inspector ID Facility code MBA LOT 4.6%+10mmAl 4.462 0.
MCA166-USB APPENDIX 2 - MCA166-USB algorithm, formulas This appendix lists the algorithms used by the MiniMCA for the following functions: ● ● ● ● ● ● Area, Area uncertainty Centroid FWHM Smooth Strip Energy Calibration The Area and the Area Uncertainty Function: The area algorithm calculates the number of counts above the background in a ROI.
Centroid: The peak centroid is the sum of the channel contents7 times the channel number divided by the sum of the channel contents in the range of the channels above the half maximum: Centroid = ∑ h i= l h ∑ i * Spectrumi i= l Spectrumi where, i = channel number Spectrumi = net contents of channel i FWHM: The Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) is the background corrected peak’s width at one-half of its maximum amplitude.
MCA166-USB Strip: Strip subtracts a specified fraction of the spectrum. The Strip factor can be “positive“ or “negative“ : Spectrum y ' = Spectrum y - F*Spectrum x where Spectrum y ' - Count content of channel i in the resulting spectrum Spectrum y - Count content of channel i in the original spectrum F - Strip factor Spectrum x - Count content of channel i in the spectrum to be subtracted E-calibration: The Energy calibration allows to convert the x-axis channel numbers into energy values in KeV.
APPENDIX 3 - Description of the communication DLLs8 A3.1 MS-Windows DLL for communication with one MCA166-USB The Dynamic Link Library exists as a 16-bit variant (mca_comm.dll) and as a 32-bit variant (mca32com.dll). The DLL must reside in the system directory of Windows or in the same directory as the calling application. In order to include the DLL in your program, you have to use in Visual Basic the file MCA32COM.BAS (valid only for Win32 applications) or in C/C++ the files MCA_COMM.H and MCA_COMM.
MCA166-USB The first argument is a string with the name of the command. In the following table all available commands (use of capital and small letters is possible), the corresponding firmware specific names and the number of the required parameters are listed.
The other arguments are the parameters of the firmware command. These arguments are optional since not all commands use the same number of parameters. Unnecessary arguments you can leave out. Information about the parameters you can find in appendix 4. You can ignore the parameters ”preamble”, ”command” und ”end flag” listed in this document. These parameters are assigned the right value automatically. The parameters that you pass to the function MCA_COMM are always long integer.
MCA166-USB A3.2 Command set MCA Reset Command: Name MMCA_RESET Description All MCA Parameters will be reset to their initial state and the spectra are cleared.
MCA Mode Commands: Name MMCA_SET_MODE_MCA Description The command sets the acquire mode to Multi-Channel Analyser Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_MODE_MCS Description The command sets the acquire mode to Multi-Channel Scaler Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command MCA Clear Commands: Name MMCA_CLEAR_MEMORY Description The acquisition is stopped and the spectrum is cleared Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET com
MCA166-USB MCA Measurement Setup Commands: Name MMCA_SET_PRESET_NONE Description None preset Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_PRESET_LIVE_TIME Description The command sets the time for measurement (dead time corrected). 1. Parameter Live time Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_PRESET_REAL_TIME Description The command sets the time for measurement 1.
Name MMCA_SET_ADC_RES_DISCR Description The command sets the ADC resolution and the software discriminator range. 1. Parameter Channels integer value 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048 or 4096 2. Parameter LLD integer value 0 <= LLD < ULD 3. Parameter ULD integer value LLD < ULD <(Channels-(Channels>>5)) Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_ROI Description The command sets the begin and end of the ROI for the preset integral and area. 1.
MCA166-USB Name MMCA_SET_MCS_INPUT_ICR Description The command selects the count rate signal as MCS input. Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_MCS_INPUT_TTL Description The command selects the external TTL signals as MCS input. Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_MCS_INPUT_DISCR Description The command selects the software discrimination of ADC-input pulses as MCS input. 1.
MCA Hardware Setup Commands: Name MMCA_SET_GAIN Description The command sets the amplifier coarse and fine gain. 1. Parameter Coarse gain integer value 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1000 2. Parameter Fine gain15 integer value 5000 ... 15000 (10000 if Coarse Gain=1000) Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_MCA_INPUT_AMPLIFIER_POS Description The command sets the amplifier input polarity to positive.
MCA166-USB Name MMCA_SET_THRESHOLD Description The command sets the analog threshold 1. Parameter Threshold Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_SHAPING_TIME_LOW Description The command sets the amplifier shaping time (1µs). 16 Parameter - Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_SHAPING_TIME_HIGH Description The command sets the amplifier shaping time (2µs).
Name MMCA_SET_FAST Description The command sets the fast discriminator threshold. 1. Parameter Threshold Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_SLOW Description The command sets the slow discriminator threshold. 1. Parameter Threshold Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_PZC_MANUAL18 Description The command sets the PZC value and returns the PZC offset. 1.
MCA166-USB MCA Stabilisation Commands: Name MMCA_SET_STABILISATION Description The command sets the peak stabilisation. 1. Parameter Stabilisation flag Integer value 0 turns stabilisation off 1 turns stabilisation on (keep peak at current position) >1 stabilisation channel (move peak to the stabilisation channel and hold peak at the stabilisation channel) 2. Parameter Peak ROI begin Integer value LLD<= begin < end 3.
Return Code see MMCA_RESET command 47
MCA166-USB MCA Data Setup Commands: Name MMCA_SET_TDF Description The command sets the dead time correction parameter. 1. Parameter Tdf Results - Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_SET_USER_DATA Description The command stores a 32 bit value in the MCA parameter memory. 1. Parameter Number integer value 0 ... 63 2. Parameter Value long or float value 0 ...
MCA Query Commands: Name MMCA_QUERY_USER_DATA Description The command reads 32 user data (32 bit values) from the MCA parameter memory. 1. Parameter Number n integer value 0 ... 63 Result array User_data[n], ... long or float value 0 ...
MCA166-USB Byte Offset 64 1. ROI pair (ROI End)25 Byte Offset 66 1. ROI pair (ROI Begin) Byte Offset 68 2. ... ... Byte Offset 120 15. Byte Offset 124 16. ROI pair Byte Offset 12826 U235/UF6: WinMCS: Inspection description 16 ROI pairs of the MCA spectrum ( similar the other ROIs ) 25 In applications with MCS spectrum the ROIs of the MCS spectrum are saved here. In WinMCS the ROIs of the MCA spectrum are saved behind it. 26 The bytes 128 ...
Name MMCA_QUERY_POWER Description The command reads the MMCA power state.
MCA166-USB Name MMCA_QUERY_STATE Description The command reads the MMCA state. Parameter - Results array MCA acquire mode MCA_MODE MODE_MCA, MODE_MCS Byte Offset 2 MCA preset MCA_PRESETS PRESET_NONE PRESET_REAL PRESET_LIVE PRESET_INT PRESET_AREA Byte Offset 4 Preset value long Byte Offset 8 Elapsed preset long Byte Offset 12 Repeat value integer value Byte Offset 14 Elapsed sweeps integer value Byte Offset 16 MCS time per channel [∗0.
Name MMCA_QUERY_STATE channel Byte Offset 70 Stabilisation result MCA_STAB_RESULT STAB_STARTED, STAB_ACTIVE, STAB_IDLE, STAB_ERROR Byte Offset 72 Stab. ROI begin integer value Byte Offset 74 Stab.
MCA166-USB Name MMCA_QUERY_SYSTEM_DATA Description The command reads the MMCA system data.
Byte Offset 116 Stabilisation area preset long Byte Offset 120 Stabilisation time preset integer value 34 Byte Offset 122 Low shaping time byte value Byte Offset 123 High shaping time35 byte value Byte Offset 124 0 integer value Byte Offset 128 MMCA state Return Code see MMCA_RESET command Name MMCA_QUERY_IMAGE36 Description The command read the MMCA spectrum image (120x256). 1. Parameter No. of 1. Channel 0 ... 2. Parameter Compress factor 1 ... 32 3.
MCA166-USB Name MMCA_QUERY_SPECTRA Description The command read the MMCA spectrum data. 1. Parameter No. of 1. Channel and read out control37 integer value 2. Parameter Compress factor (1 ... 32) long value Result array Channel contents N long value Byte Offset 4 Channel contents N+1 long value Channel contents N+31 long value ...
Name MMCA_QUERY_UF6_INFO Description The command reads current dead time, real time the integral, begin and end of the UF6 ROIs Parameter - Result array Real time long value Byte Offset 4 Dead time [msec] long value Byte Offset 8 Integral ROI 1 long value Byte Offset 12 Integral ROI 2 long value Byte Offset 16 Integral ROI 3 long value Byte Offset 20 Begin ROI 1 long value ... ...
MCA166-USB Name MMCA_QUERY_VOLTAGE_CURRENT Description The command reads the voltages and currents from the MMCA.
APPENDIX 4 - Description of the MCA166-USB firmware functions MCA Reset Command: Command name Description CMD_INIT All MCA Parameters will be reset to their initial state and the spectra are cleared.
MCA166-USB MCA Mode Command: Command name Description CMD_SET_MODE Depending on the value of the first parameter (mod): MODE_MCA =0 MODE_MCS =1 the command set MMCA to the required mode by activating the previous specified setup parameter. The command will be ignored and responded with a error messages, if a measurement is still running.
MCA Measurement Setup Commands: Command name CMD_SET_ADC_RES_DISCR Description The command set the ADC resolution(res: 128, 256 … 4096), the LLD(Low level discriminator) and the ULD(Upper level discriminator) to the values of its three parameter. The command will be ignored and responded with a error messages, if one ore more parameter are invalid or a measurement is still running.
MCA166-USB Command name CMD_SET_REPEAT Description The command sets the number(rep: 0 ... 65535) of sweeps for repetitive measurement. Command syntax Format integer integer integer long integer Parameter preamble command rep 0 end flag Byte String (HEX) A5 4A repl Used setup value None Affected setup value Repeat MCA state STATE_READY Command name CMD_SET_MCS_CHANNEL Description The command set the number of channels(ch: 128 ...
MCA Hardware Setup Commands: Command name CMD_SET_GAIN Description The command sets the amplifier coarse(cg) and fine gain(fg). cg: 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1000 fg: 5000 ... 15000 (for cg = 1000 fg: 5000 ...
MCA166-USB Command name Description CMD_SET_MCS_INPUT The command sets the input for the Multi-Channel Scaler.
Command name CMD_SET_PUR Description Format The command sets the pile up rejection. pur = 0 turns PUR off pur ≠ 0 turns PUR on integer integer integer long integer Parameter preamble command pur end flag Byte String (HEX) A5 53 pur Used setup value None Affected setup value mca_pur MCA state STATE_READY Command name CMD_SET_FAST Description This command set the fast discriminator threshold (0 ... 2499, default 400).
MCA166-USB Command name Description CMD_SET_PZC The command performs the Pole Zero Cancellation. pv: 0 ... 2499 PZC control voltage pm = 0 set PCZ only pm > 0 set PZC and measure PZC offset Command syntax Format integer integer integer long integer Parameter preamble command pm Pv end flag Byte String (HEX) A5 58 pml Used setup value None Affected setup value pzc_value Results If pm > 0 the function returns with the number of counts and the - PZC offset.
MCA Stabilisation Commands: Command name Description CMD_SET_STABILISATION The command sets the peak stabilisation.
MCA166-USB MCA Detector Power Commands: Command name Description CMD_SET_PREAMPLIFIER_POWER The command sets the preamplifier power(pp).
MCA Data Setup Commands: Command name Description CMD_SET_TDF The command sets the TDF parameter. tdf: TDF(100 ... 3000, default 800) Command syntax Format integer integer integer long integer Parameter preamble command tdf 0 end flag Byte String (HEX) A5 61 tdfl Used setup value None Affected setup value tdf MCA state STATE_READY Command name CMD_SET_UF6_ROI The command sets the begin and the end of a ROI used by the other UF6 commands.
MCA166-USB MCA Query Commands: Command name CMD_QUERY_POWER Description The command reads the power state. Command syntax Format integer integer integer long integer Parameter preamble command 0 0 end flag Byte String (HEX) A5 59 00 Results see MMCA_QUERY_POWER function in DLL description. Command name CMD_QUERY_STATE Description The command reads the state.
Command name Description CMD_QUERY_USER_DATA The command reads a 32 bit value from the MCA parameter memory. e: 0 ... 63 parameter number Command syntax Format integer integer integer long integer Parameter preamble command e 0 end flag Byte String (HEX) A5 5E e Used setup value None Result see MMCA_QUERY_USER_DATA function in DLL description. Command name CMD_SYSTEM_DATA Description The command reads the special MCA data.
MCA166-USB Command name Description CMD_QUERY_ENRICHMENT The command read the integral of two ROIs and the real and dead time. pb: Peak1 begin bb: Peak2 begin pl: Peak1 length (8 ... 250 channels) bl: Peak2 length (8 ... 250 channels) Command syntax Format integer integer Parameter Preamble command Byte String (HEX) A5 Used setup value - Result see MMCA_QUERY_ENRICHMENT function in DLL description.
APPENDIX 5 - Changing the MCA166-USB Firmware Attention: The order of changing the switches must be followed exactly, otherwise the µP will be destroyed! The programming voltage (+12V) shall only be applied when the working voltage (+5 V) is switched on !! Each MMCA must be programmed with it’s corresponding HEX-file (e.g. MMCA #6 with Mca6.hex). Programming the firmware can be done very easy by using the Firmware Wizard program. It is available from the Internet or from the supplied software CD.
