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XIA microDXP Manual

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microDXP
Development Kit Manual
Version 3.26
September 12, 2024
microDXP Hardware Revision: H (8) & J (10)
microCOMU 2.3 & microCOMV-UFF 1.0
ProSpect Software
Software Revision: 1.1.x
XIA LLC
2744 East 11th Street STE H2
Oakland, CA 94601 USA
Email: support@xia.com
Tel: (510) 401-5760; Fax: (510) 401-5761
http://www.xia.com/
Information furnished by XIA LLC is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed by
XIA for its use, or for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. No
license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of XIA. XIA reserves the right to
change hardware or software specifications at any time without notice.

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Summary of Contents for XIA microDXP

  • Page 1 Information furnished by XIA LLC is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed by XIA for its use, or for any infringements of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of XIA.

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Software and Firmware Updates ..................12 1.4.2 Related Documentation ....................... 12 1.4.3 Email and Phone Support ....................12 1.4.4 Customer and User Feedback ..................... 13 Hardware Setup ........................14 microDXP and microCOM Hardware Settings................14 2.1.1 Preamplifier Type Selection ....................14 September 12, 2024...
  • Page 3 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 2.1.2 Input Signal Attenuation ..................... 14 Making Connections ........................15 2.2.1 microCOM to microDXP Connection ................15 2.2.2 Communications ......................... 16 2.2.2.1 USB ..........................16 2.2.2.2 RS-232 ..........................16 2.2.3 Detector and Preamplifier ....................16 2.2.4...
  • Page 4 Number of Samples in the Baseline Average ..............49 3.8.4.3 The DSP Parameters Window ..................50 Appendices ........................... 51 Appendix A microDXP Specification ....................51 A.1 Board Dimensions and Mounting ....................51 A.2 Preamplifier Type Selector Switch ....................51 A.3 Input Signal Attenuation ......................51 A.4 Connector Locations and Pinouts ....................
  • Page 5 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Appendix B Auxiliary I/O Functions ....................56 B.1 GATE* Input ..........................57 B.2 Configurable I/O Lines ......................... 57 B.4 I2C Bus ............................57 Appendix C System Development Outline ..................58 September 12, 2024...

  • Page 6: Safety

    Detector and Preamplifier Damage Because the microDXP does not provide power for the detector or preamplifier there is little risk of damage to either resulting from the microDXP itself. Nonetheless, please review all instructions and safety precautions provided with these components before powering a connected system.

  • Page 7: Warranty Statement

    In order to obtain service under this warranty, Customer must notify XIA LLC of the defect before the expiration of the warranty period and make suitable arrangements for the performance of the service.

  • Page 8: Manual Conventions

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Manual Conventions The following conventions are used throughout this manual Convention Description Example » The » symbol leads you The sequence through nested menu items File»Page Setup»Options directs you to pull and dialog box options.

  • Page 9: Introduction

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 1 Introduction This brief manual is intended to get new users of the microDXP up and running quickly with XIA’s ProSpect software application. 1.1 Rapid Development Kit The microDXP Rapid Development Kit includes the microCOMU or microCOMV-UFF carrier board, power supply, all required cables, and the ProSpect evaluation software and Handel drivers.

  • Page 10: Downloads

    Gain Specification • microCOMU Technical Reference Manual • ProSpect evaluation software 1.2 Software Features The ProSpect software package supports microDXP configuration, spectrum acquisition, basic analysis, statistics and diagnostics features, as outlined below. 1.2.1 Configuration • Detector/Preamplifier settings • Peaking time optimization (via PARSETs) •...

  • Page 11: Detector/Preamplifier

    8.19 ms Table 1-1: Analog input signal constraints *The microDXP input circuitry is configured by default for typical x-ray and gamma-ray detector gain values. Larger pulse-heights and input voltage range are accommodated via input signal attenuation (see §2.1.2 for details).

  • Page 12: Support

    Version 3.26 1.4 Support A unique benefit of dealing with a small company like XIA is that the same people who designed them often provide the technical support for our sophisticated instruments. Our customers are thus able to get in-depth technical advice on how to fully utilize our products within the context of their particular applications.

  • Page 13: Customer And User Feedback

    For general questions and DXP hardware issues please send email to: support@xia.com 1.4.4 Customer and User Feedback XIA strives to keep up with the needs of our users. Please send us your feedback regarding the functionality and usability of the microDXP and ProSpect software. September 12, 2024...

  • Page 14: Hardware Setup

    Attenuation and the increased input range are achieved by removing the solder from RG1 and shorting the two pads of RG2 together with solder. The microDXP input circuitry can be further customized to accommodate larger input voltage ranges or to change the input impedance.

  • Page 15: Making Connections

    Ensure that the microDXP is in the correct rotation relative to the microCOM board, and then gently press the microDXP down onto the microCOM companion board. It should seat neatly against the steel standoffs.

  • Page 16: Communications

    COM port on the host computer. Note that the default setting is 115 kbaud, though higher speeds up to 921 kbaud are supported. Contact XIA if you’d like to change the baud rate from 115 kbaud.
  • Page 17 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 microCOM primary power connector at J10 (see Figure 2-1 above). The system can now be powered on using the SW3 master power switch. September 12, 2024...

  • Page 18: Using The Prospect Software

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 3 Using the ProSpect Software The ProSpect application can be used to configure the microDXP settings, to perform diagnostics and to acquire and export energy spectra. 3.1 Installation ProSpect operates with Windows 10 and above. The latest windows application and drivers are available online here: https://xia.com/support/microdxp/...

  • Page 19: A Quick Tour Of Prospect

    Press the [Generate New File…] button to open the Generate Configuration File dialog, which displays all detected XIA LLC devices. Click in the Select column next to the detected microDXP and press the [Save] button to generate an appropriate INI file and proceed with initialization.
  • Page 20 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 The Settings panel contains several tabs, but the scope of this document is limited to the Acquisition and Detector tabs. The Acquisition tab provides access to Peaking Time selection, and peaking-time-related settings (PARSET) and MCA-related settings (GENSET) parameters.

  • Page 21: Preview Of The Setup Process

    3.3.2 Preview of the Setup Process The microDXP has been designed for ease-of-use in embedded applications. ProSpect can be used to first optimize detector and preamplifier settings and all the parameters associated with each of the 24 Peaking Times in combination with up to 5 MCA spectrum formats and then save them to non-volatile memory.

  • Page 22: Detector/Preamplifier (Globset) Settings

    We recommend that you review §3.8.3 for an introduction to the Scope tool. The microDXP’s digital filters expect positive x-ray pulse-steps, i.e. with a rising edge. If the displayed x-ray steps have a falling edge (as in Figure 3-5 below), the detector Polarity setting must be modified.

  • Page 23: Setting The Reset Interval (Reset-Type Preamplifiers)

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Figure 3-5: The Scope tool, displaying a series of two x-ray pulses from a reset-type preamplifier. Note that pulses have falling edges, indicating that the polarity setting is wrong. 3.4.3 Setting the Reset Interval (Reset-Type Preamplifiers) Reset-preamplifiers produce a large corrective reset step when the large-signal ‘staircase’...

  • Page 24: Mca (Genset) Settings

    MCA Bin = Equation 3-1 In a significant departure from the previous design, the updated (blue) microDXP design now employs a digitally-controlled switched-gain amplifier architecture with 16 coarse analog gain settings for dynamic ranging in concert with finely adjustable digital gain for energy calibration.

  • Page 25: Setting The Base Gain

    Switched Gain and Digital Base Gain acquisition values into a single ‘gain knob’ with a range of 1-100 that will be familiar to users of the original microDXP. It should be set according to the dynamic range of the input signal: large enough that electronic noise is sufficiently digitized, but small enough that the largest x-rays of interest fit well within the ADC input range.

  • Page 26: Mca Format

    1000 LSBs, corresponding to roughly 40 keV Dynamic Range. 3.5.4 MCA Format The microDXP MCA format is quite flexible, with adjustable Number MCA Bins ranging up to 8192, and adjustable granularity via the MCA Bin Width setting. The DSP doesn’t constrain the relationship between these settings, so it’s possible to define a spectrum that...

  • Page 27: Spectrum Acquisition

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 A few examples are shown in Table 3-1 above, all with the Dynamic Range equal to 40 keV. The best setting depends on the required bin size, energy range and spectrum file size for a given application. Note that the default setting is 4096 bins with MCA Bin Width equal to 2.

  • Page 28: Roi Selection

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 3.6.1 ROI Selection In order to calibrate the energy we must first designate the calibration peak with a Region of Interest (ROI). By default the ROI table should display as in Figure 3-8A. Click on the Add New Row icon to add the first ROI.
  • Page 29 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Figure 3-8: A) default ROI table, B) with an uncalibrated peak at 14.89 keV selected and calibration energy 0f 5.9 keV entered, and C) after base gain calibration of a 5.9 keV Kα peak.

  • Page 30: Peaking Time (Parset) Optimization

    PARSET (peaking time), etc. The configuration process need only be performed once, though of course the parameter sets can later be modified. Please refer to the microDXP Technical Reference Manual and the RS-232 Command Specification for further details. All microDXP-related documents are available online at: http://www.xia.com/microDXP.html...

  • Page 31: Disable The Slow Threshold

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 events, which go into the energy spectrum: the fast-filter Trigger threshold achieves the best pulse-pileup rejection, whereas the slow-filter Energy threshold can be used to detect the lowest energies; the intermediate-filter Baseline threshold is somewhere in the middle.

  • Page 32: Fine Gain Trim

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 the Baseline threshold will have very little effect on the input and output count rates. 6. Press the [Save] button to save the new Baseline Threshold to the current PARSET. 3.7.2 Fine Gain Trim Now we are ready to trim the gain for this peaking time.

  • Page 33: Advanced Optimizations

    Congratulations! You’ve just completed the basic configuration and optimization. We’ve attempted to provide enough software features and documentation to characterize the microDXP performance with a given detector, i.e. map the resolution and throughput vs. peaking time. If you do not achieve satisfactory performance after following the above procedure, continue reading §3.7.4 below, which includes:...
  • Page 34 Figure 3-12: The Edit Filter Parameters dialog displays the advanced settings for the current Peaking Time. Changing any of these parameters can significantly alter the performance of microDXP at the selected Peaking Time. 1. Make sure the desired Peaking Time is selected from the drop-down list.

  • Page 35: Preamplifier Rise Time: Slowgap

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 5. Press [Start Run] to acquire data for comparison in the MCA tab, and then press [Stop Run]. 6. [Save] the PARSET to store the modified parameters to non-volatile memory such that they will be retrieved the next time the Peaking Time is selected.

  • Page 36: Peak Capture Method: Peak Sensing Vs Peak Sampling

    3.7.4.2 Peak Capture Method: Peak Sensing vs Peak Sampling Two peak capture methods are supported by the microDXP hardware. In general, the default Peak Sensing mode is recommended: it is ‘automatic’ and thus easier to use, and achieves the best pulse-height measurement in most cases. At very short peaking times, and especially when the user sets the Energy Filter Gap Time to less than the preamplifier rise time, Peak Sampling mode may yield better results.
  • Page 37 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Figure 3-14: In Peak Sensing mode, the peak value of the slow energy filter output is selected. For Peak Sampling mode, the slow filter output is instead sampled a fixed time after the x-ray is detected, as depicted in Figure 3-15. A timer which expires after PEAKSAM clock cycles is started when an x-ray step is detected.

  • Page 38: Pileup Inspection: Fastlen, Fastgap, Maxwidth, Peakint

    Two pileup inspection methods are utilized in the microDXP. Fast pileup inspection monitors the pulse width of the fast filter output, or more specifically, the time during which the Trigger threshold is exceeded.

  • Page 39: Viewing The Run Statistics

    Figure 3-16 below. Finally, press the [Export …] button to store all info, i.e. status, history and configuration information, to a text file. This text file is useful to XIA support staff when attempting to diagnose hardware and/or firmware problems.

  • Page 40: Log Files

    Both files are saved to the default location: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\XIALLC\ProSpect\logs The log files, and particularly the Handel log file, can be helpful to XIA support staff when attempting to diagnose hardware and/or firmware problems. 3.8.3 The Scope Tool The Scope tab displays 8,000 points of the selected digital signal vector, to be used as a diagnostic tool during setup and debugging.

  • Page 41: Identifying Noise

    In order to make sense of the Scope data, it’s important to distinguish x-ray pulses from noise, and for reset-type preamplifiers we must also identify preamplifier resets and microDXP tracking steps in the display. 3.8.3.1 Identifying Noise Figure 3-17: An ADC trace displaying noise from a reset-type preamplifier. The Sampling Interval is set to 1 µs, thus the 8000 point display spans 8 ms.

  • Page 42: Preamplifier Resets And Tracking Steps (Reset Type Preamplifiers Only)

    Reset steps may be difficult to identify because the microDXP front-end circuitry counteracts the transient in an attempt to keep the ADC signal in range.

  • Page 43: The Preamplifier Reset Interval

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 are qualitatively similar to the step produced by an x-ray, but occur with both rising and falling edges. Tracking steps can be identified by noting that the transients originate near the ADC minimum (0) or maximum (16384) and terminate near mid-range (6000 to 10000).

  • Page 44: Measuring The Rc Decay Constant (Rc Preamplifiers Only)

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 a while. If you’re having trouble identifying preamplifier resets, try setting the Reset Interval to a value larger than the default 2 µs, so that the resulting flat area after the transient can clearly be observed as in Figure 3-19. The idea is to set the Reset Interval such that the ADC signal goes flat for a finite but brief period of time, e.g.
  • Page 45 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 �������� = �1 − � ∗ �������� ≅ 0.63 ∗ �������� ′ ���� 6. The cursors should now be separated by the time constant τ, displayed in µs in the dX field, as in Figure 3-22 below.
  • Page 46 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 It’s also instructive to take a look at the Scaled Slow Filter output. If the RC Decay Time is set properly, the trapezoid corresponding to an x-ray event should return promptly to baseline with no overshoot or undershoot as shown in Figure 3-23.

  • Page 47: Trace Types

    Table 3-3: Trace Type definitions 3.8.4 Baseline Acquisition Proper baseline acquisition and averaging is critical to the microDXP’s performance. The baseline is the output response of a digital filters when no photons are present. As is standard in pulse-processing applications, baseline measurements are averaged over a time...

  • Page 48: The Baseline Threshold

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 measurements, is displayed in the Baseline tab. With proper settings, the baseline histogram is an accurate representation of system noise. The Baseline Average in the Scope tab displays the computed average as a function of time.

  • Page 49: Number Of Samples In The Baseline Average

    Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Figure 3-25: A very clean baseline histogram with thresholds set correctly—the noise peak is isolated and Gaussian in appearance. Open the Baseline tab and press [Get Baseline] to refresh the histogram display. If the Baseline Threshold is set too high, part of the energy spectrum may be displayed in the baseline distribution as in Figure 3-24.

  • Page 50: The Dsp Parameters Window

    Values can be modified in DSP memory by directly editing a field and pressing the [Enter] key, however, this can have unexpected results and should only be done as directed by XIA support staff. Figure 3-26: The DSP Parameters window, used for diagnostic purposes.

  • Page 51: Appendices

    Select RC for RC-feedback preamplifiers. Note that the setting must match both your detector preamplifier and the firmware that is installed in non-volatile memory, as indicated in the Preamplifier Type field in the Detector tab. Please contact XIA if you have the wrong type of firmware installed.
  • Page 52 IDMA access to DSP memory for transfer rates up to 10 Mbytes/sec. This parallel IDMA interface is used as the basis for the microCOMU USB interface. The latest microDXP hardware includes an on-board mini-USB 2.0 interface (J8), simplifying the implementation design process for embedded systems. The customer need only provide power and auxiliary digital I/O connections via the flat-flex cable or board- to-board connector.
  • Page 53 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 J1 - Analog Input: 2-pin SMT right-angle header (TOP SIDE) Hirose P/N: DF13-2P-1.25H (mating P/N: DF13-2S-1.25C; crimp contact P/N: DF13-2630SCFR) Pin # Name Description SIGNAL Preamplifier output signal Internal ground connection Table A-2: Pin assignments for the 2-conductor SMT header analog input connection.
  • Page 54 Development Kit Manual Version 3.26 Vprog PIC programming voltage ProgData PIC programming data line ProgClk PIC programming clock Aux0 Auxiliary configurable digital I/O line: connects to FiPPI Aux1 Auxiliary configurable digital I/O line: connects to FiPPI Internal ground connection...
  • Page 55 Internal ground connection EWR* IDMA write strobe (Active LO) ESel* IDMA device select INPUT (must be asserted LO to communicate with the microDXP) ERdy* IDMA data ready (Active LO) OUTPUT ERD* IDMA read strobe (Active LO) Even-numbered pins (top to bottom along the left-side of the connector as shown...

  • Page 56: Power Supplies

    If a switching supply is used, it should be well shielded from the microDXP. By default, supply voltages of +/-5.5V are regulated on-board by default to generate +/- 5.0V to power the analog components.

  • Page 57: Gate* Input

    MicroCOMV-UFF, as defined in the table above. B.2 Configurable I/O Lines Four general-purpose digital I/O lines connected to the FPGA on the microDXP are accessible on the carrier board as shown in the table above. By default, they are defined as SCA pulser outputs, but may be redefined via custom firmware.

  • Page 58: Appendix C System Development Outline

    System Development Outline The microCOM board constitutes a simple routing adapter interface providing power and communications access to the microDXP hardware as well as hardware access to some auxiliary I/O for the purposes of development, and serves test platform and design example for those users developing their own interface.
  • Page 59 Follow-up consultation with an XIA engineer. Quotation updated to reflect any changes from preliminary specification. 6. Hardware Design, Manufacture and Test: Power supply for the microDXP, detector and preamplifier, a routing adapter or embedded host and optional auxiliary circuitry are designed, manufactured and individually tested.

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