ORTEC Easy-MCS, Hardware User Manual

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APPENDIX C. FILE FORMATS
This appendix describes the file structure for the .MCS spectrum data files and the .ROI data
files.
C.1. .MCS Spectral Data Files
.MCS files contain the channel-by-channel contents of the MCS in 32-bit integer format. The
header is 256 bytes long and contains the following:
Byte
offset
Descriptor
length
Use
0 2 Must be
!
4
2 1 0 = Internal Trigger, otherwise External Trigger
3 1 0 = Internal Dwell, otherwise External Dwell
4 1 Dwell units (0 =
μ
s, 1 = ms, 2 = sec, 3 = ns)
5 1 Acq Mode (0 = Replace, 1 = Sum, 2 = Replace then Sum)
6 4 913 Format Dwell (integer number of
μ
s). Provided for
compatibility with ACE-MCS (unrelated to Byte 4)
10 2 Pass Length in channels (integer, 4–65535)
12 4 Pass Count in passes (integer, 0–4294967295)
16 4 Pass Count Preset (integer, 0 = OFF; maximum = 4294967295)
20 8 Start Time (8 characters, “13:59:59")
28 8 Start Date (8 characters, “01311992")
36 2 Marker Channel (integer, 0 to Pass Length
!
1)
38 1 MCS number (0–255)
39 1 Calibration Type (0 = None, 1 or 2 = linear, 3 = quadratic,
4 = cubic)
40 4 Calibration units (4 characters, “amu”)
44 4 Calib. Coeff 0 — Constant term (floating point)
48 4 Calib. Coeff 1 — linear term (floating point)
52 4 External dwell threshold voltage
56 4 Reserved
60 1 Reserved
61 1 Replace-then-sum mode supported (1 = supported, 0 = not
supported)
62 1 Identification Byte (Always AA Hex)
63 1 Programmable dwell threshold voltage
64 1 Detector Description Length (0–63)
65 63 Detector Description (up to 63 characters)
128 1 Sample Description Length (0–63)
129 63 Sample Description (up to 63 characters)