Socket Interface Specification. MYTHEN Detector System. Version: 3.0.0, Document Version: 2
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To check, whether the communication with all modules is working, the module serial numbers can be read out ("-
get modnum").
By default the commands affect all active modules. Some commands can be invoked on single modules. This can
be achieved by selecting a specific module with the “-module” command. The same command can also be used,
to restore the default behavior by selecting all active modules.
5.3. Settings
5.3.1. Predefined Settings
The simplest way to operate the detector is to load predefined settings for a copper or molybdenum tube with the
“-settings" command. Depending on the calibration of your system, predefined settings for chromium and silver X-
rays are also available.
5.3.2. Setting Threshold and Energy
The predefined settings can be customized by explicitly specifying the energy threshold and the X-ray energy with
the command “-kthreshenergy”. The allowed ranges for these parameters depend on the calibration of your
system.
5.3.3. High frame rates
To maximize the frame rate, the user should consider the following options:
1.
Minimizing the number of bits which are read out with the "-nbits" command.
2.
Disabling the server side rate correction with the command "-ratecorrection 0".
3.
Disabling the server side flatfield correction with the command
“-flatfieldcorrection 0".
4.
Using a UDP connection instead of the slower TCP connection.
5.
Using the
“-readoutraw” command instead of the slower “-readout” command.
5.4. Acquisition control
Before starting an acquisition, the number of frames and the duration of the frames have to be programmed. The
former can be done with the "-frames" command, the latter with the "-time" command. Since the duration is
specified in units of 100ns, the argument can be a large number. Therefore the user should make sure to handle
these numbers correctly. For example in the C programming language, it will be necessary to use the data type
long long
, which comprises 64 bits.
An acquisition is started with the "-start" command. Afterwards each frame is read out with a "-readout" command.
A readout command that is sent while the corresponding frame is still acquired will return when the data collection
for this frame has finished. Since the DCS can only buffer four frames, it is important to read out the frames as
soon as possible. An acquisition can be interrupted with the "-stop" command, which results in the loss of the
frames, which have not yet been read out.
The status of the acquisition can be checked with the "-status" command. Sending commands other than "-
readout", "-status" or "-stop" during an acquisition can result in misbehavior of the detector.
