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microDXP Technical Reference Manual
Version 3.15
October 7, 2019
10
1 Introduction
The Micro Digital X-ray Processor (microDXP) is a high rate, digitally-based, multi-
channel analysis spectrometer designed for energy dispersive x-ray or gamma-ray
measurements in benchtop, networked, portable and embedded systems. Its versatile
analog front-end accommodates most solid-state and gas detectors and a wide range of
common preamplifiers, including pulsed optical reset, transistor reset, and resistive
feedback types. The microDXP offers complete computer control over all available
amplifier and spectrometer controls including gain (if applicable), filter peaking time, and
pileup inspection criteria. As with all DXP instruments, the firmware (i.e. DSP,
Microcontroller and FPGA code) can be upgraded in the field. Unlike other instruments in
the DXP family, microDXP firmware and parameters are stored locally in non-volatile
memory.
The architecture supports custom auxiliary digital access including the industry-standard
I2C serial bus and four configurable digital I/O lines. The microDXP is thus a flexible,
cost-effective OEM component that can form the core of a broad range of systems, from
basic XRF to the most demanding process and control applications emerging in research
and industry.
This version of the manual describes the new ‘blue’ microDXP pictured on the right below.
If your microDXP is green, as pictured on the left, please refer to the older version 1.0.2 of
this manual.
Figure 1-1: The new microDXP pictured on the right was released in 2015.
1.1 Features
The microDXP offers a set of standard and customizable features intended to address the
design requirements of a wide range of complex spectroscopy data acquisition systems.
1.1.1 General Spectrometer Features
Extremely compact unit replaces spectroscopy amplifier, shaping amplifier and
multi-channel analyzer (MCA) at significantly reduced cost and power consumption.
Operates with a wide variety of x-ray or gamma-ray detectors using preamplifiers of
pulsed optical reset, transistor reset or resistor feedback types.