FAST ComTec MCA4A, User Manual

Page: 44 / 107

Software Description
The MPANT menu item in the file menu starts the MPANT program if it is not running.
4.1.4 Settings Overview
The Hardware... item in the Settings menu opens the MCA4 Settings dialog box. It enables to switch
between PHA mode (left figure) and MCS mode (right). If more than one MCA module are installed, the
module (A, B,..) can be selected in the upper right corner as shown right in Fig. 4.6.
Via the SCA - combo boxes you can specify the signal you want to observe at the feature connector. See
chapter 3.2.4. You can observe for each channel the SCA, ADC BUSY (over-the-threshold), GATE Input,
MCS Input or SVA event signals.
In PHA mode a List file can be written by checking the corresponding checkbox Write Listfile . The data
format can be ASCII or binary depending on the format settings in the data operations dialog. The FIFO size
can be selected between Full (128 Mb), Medium (32 Mb) and Small (8 Mb). For real data acquisition the full
size is recommended. For adjusting parameters when using Scope mode, a small FIFO size is useful as
changes can be observed immediately whereas with a full FIFO size they are delayed by several seconds.
OK takes all settings and closes the dialog. Apply sets all settings without closing the dialog. Cancel cancels
all changes. Pressing Save writes all settings into the file MCA4A.SET and MCA4_###.set resp. the entered
setup name. The file name is built by attaching “A.set” and “_###.set” to the shown name, where “###” is the
serial number of the MCA4.
Browse lets you search for settings files, Load Sett. loads one. When loading a
settings file, the file with the serial number fitting to the device in the file name is loaded if one is found,
otherwise or when the software is running in demo mode the file MCA4A.SET for the first MCA4 module.
44
F
ComTec GmbH
Fig. 4.5: About MCA4 dialog box and Installed items
Fig. 4.6: Settings overview, left: PHA mode, right: MCS mode, more than one MCA4 module.