IEEE-1214-1992-R2006.pdf

Recognized as an American National Standard (ANSI) The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. 345 E. 47th Street, New York, NY 10017 Copyright © 1993 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Published 1993. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 155937-261-3 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. IEEE Std 1214-1992(R2006) IEEE Standard Multichannel Analyzer (MCA) Histogram Data Interchange Format for Nuclear Spectroscopy Sponsor Nuclear Instruments and Detectors Committee of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Reaffirmed March 30, 2006 Approved September 17, 1992 IEEE-SA Standards Board Approved March 9, 1993 Reaffirmed January 13, 2000 American National Standards Institute Abstract: A standard format for data interchange used to transfer multichannel pulse height data on magnetic media between laboratories is provided. The terms used in file records are defined. The contents consist only of ASCII characters and can be transmitted over networks and other direct links. Example programs to read data in FORTRAN, BASIC, and C are provided. Keywords: data transfer, histogram data interchange, multichannel analyzer, multichannel pulse height data, nuclear spectroscopy Copyright The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Provided by IHS under license with IEEELicensee=IHS Employees/1111111001, User=O'Connor, Maurice Not for Resale, 04/29/2007 00:13:25 MDTNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS -,-,- IEEE Standards documents are developed within the Technical Committees of the IEEE Societies and the Standards Coordinating Committees of the IEEE Stan- dards Board. Members of the committees serve voluntarily and without compensa- tion. They are not necessarily members of the Institute. The standards developed within IEEE represent a consensus of the broad expertise on the subject within the Institute as well as those activities outside of IEEE that have expressed an interest in participating in the development of the standard. Use of an IEEE Standard is wholly voluntary. The existence of an IEEE Standard does not imply that there are no other ways to produce, test, measure, purchase, mar- ket, or provide other goods and services related to the scope of the IEEE Standard. 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Box 1331 Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331 USA IEEE Standards documents are adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electron- ics Engineers without regard to whether their adoption may involve patents on arti- cles, materials, or processes. Such adoption does not assume any liability to any patent owner, nor does it assume any obligation whatever to parties adopting the standards documents. Copyright The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Provided by IHS under license with IEEELicensee=IHS Employees/1111111001, User=O'Connor, Maurice Not for Resale, 04/29/2007 00:13:25 MDTNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS -,-,- iii Introduction (This introduction is not a part of IEEE Std 1214-1992, IEEE Standard Multichannel Analyzer (MCA) Histogram Data Interchange Format for Nuclear Spectroscopy.) This document provides a standard format for histogram data for nuclear spectroscopy to facilitate inter- change of such data between and within institutions. At the time it approved this standard, the Nuclear Instruments and Detectors Committee of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasmas Sciences Society had the following membership: Sanford Wagner, Chair Louis Costrell, Secretary Muzaffer AtacEdward FairsteinD. E. Persyk J. G. BellianF. S. GouldingP. L. Phelps J. A. ColemanF. A. KirstenD. E. Stilwell W. K. DawsonH. W. KranerK. L. Swinth J. F. DetkoG. L. MillerF. J. Walter Ronald M. Keyser served as project leader for the development of this standard. At the time it balloted and approved this standard, the Accredited Standards Committee N42 on Radiation Instrumentation had the following personnel: Louis Costrell, Chair Sue Vogel, Secretary Joseph G. BellianEdward GroeberJack M. Selby Hugh R. BrashearJ.B. Horner KuperCarl R. Siebentritt Ernesto A. CorteJesse LiebermanAnthony J. Spurgin Louis CostrellD.A. MackEdward J. Vallario Julian ForsterJames E. McLaughlinLee J. Wagner John M. GallagherPaul L. PhelpsSanford Wagner Gerald GoldsteinEdward C. Wenzinger When the IEEE Standards Board approved this standard on September 17, 1992, it had the following mem- bership: Marco W. Migliaro, Chair Donald C. Loughry, Vice Chair Andrew G. Salem, Secretary Dennis BodsonDonald N. HeirmanT. Don Michael* Paul L. BorrillBen C. JohnsonJohn L. Rankine Clyde CampWalter J. KarplusWallace S. Read Donald C. FleckensteinIvor N. KnightRonald H. Reimer Jay Forster* Joseph Koepfi nger*Gary S. Robinson David F. FranklinIrving KolodnyMartin V. Schneider Ramiro GarciaD. N. “Jim” LogothetisTerrance R. Whittemore Thomas L. HannanLawrence V. McCallDonald W. Zipse *Member Emeritus Also included are the following nonvoting IEEE Standards Board liaisons: Satish K. Aggarwal James Beall Richard B. Engleman David E. Soffrin Rochelle L. Stern IEEE Standards Project Editor Copyright The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Provided by IHS under license with IEEELicensee=IHS Employees/1111111001, User=O'Connor, Maurice Not for Resale, 04/29/2007 00:13:25 MDTNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS -,-,- iv Contents CLAUSE PAGE 1.Scope 1 2.Purpose. 1 3.Definitions 1 4.General. 3 ANNEXES Annex A Example FORTRAN program segment to read data . 6 Annex B Example BASIC program to read data. 7 Annex C Example C program to read data 9 Copyright The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Provided by IHS under license with IEEELicensee=IHS Employees/1111111001, User=O'Connor, Maurice Not for Resale, 04/29/2007 00:13:25 MDTNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS -,-,- 1 IEEE Standard Multichannel Analyzer (MCA) Histogram Data Interchange Format for Nuclear Spectroscopy 1. Scope This standard applies to multichannel pulse height data used in nuclear spectroscopy. It is independent of the source of the data, the device which wrote the data, the device which reads the data, and the medium con- taining the data. 2. Purpose The purpose of this standard is to provide a format for data interchange that can be used to transfer multi- channel pulse height data between laboratories, and to distribute this data for testing purposes. In order to be compatible with a large number of computer languages, computers, and hardware links, the complete fi le must be written in ASCII. It is intended that these fi les be converted to the local format before being used. 3. Defi nitions 3.1 acquisition start time: The start time of the acquisition of the histogram data, as DD/MM/YR_HH:NN:SS_ where the '_' (underscore character) is an ASCII space; DD is the day; MM is the month; YR is the year; HH is the hours; NN is the minutes; and SS is the seconds. 3.2 ADC number: A four-character number identifying the ADC (analog to digital converter) used for the data. Leading spaces are interpreted as leading zeros. Normally, the ADC numbers would start at 1 and go up in sequence for a given system. Different systems in a specifi c laboratory could use non-sequential numbers, e.g., 1 to 4, and 11 to 14, for different types of equipment. 3.3 energy and channel pairs: The energy (keV) of the corresponding channel is stored as energy-channel pairs. Each member of the pair is stored as a 16-character fl oating point number, with unused pairs being ASCII spaces or zeros. They are stored as ordered pairs, i.e., the fi rst entry is the energy, the second is the channel at that energy, the third is the energy, the fourth is the channel at that energy, and then to the next record. This is intended to provide suffi cient numbers of channel pairs to allow for an adequate reconstruc- tion of the energy-channel function by the analysis program. Copyright The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Provided by IHS under license with IEEELicensee=IHS Employees/1111111001, User=O'Connor, Maurice Not for Resale, 04/29/2007 00:13:25 MDTNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS -,-,- IEEE Std 1214-1992IEEE STANDARD MCA HISTOGRAM DATA INTERCHANGE 2 3.4 energy and effi ciency pairs: The detection effi ciency at the corresponding energy is stored as energy- effi ciency pairs. Each member of the pair is stored as a 16-character fl oating point number, with unused pairs being ASCII spaces or zeros. They are stored as ordered pairs, i.e., the fi rst entry is the energy, the second is the effi ciency at that energy, the third is the energy, the fourth is the effi ciency at that energy, and then to the next record. This is intended to provide suffi cient numbers of effi ciency pairs to allow for an adequate recon- struction of the effi ciency function by the analysis program. 3.5 energy and resolution pairs: The detector resolution at the corresponding energy is stored as energy- resolution pairs. Each member of the pair is stored as a 16-character fl oating point number, with unused pairs being ASCII spaces or zeros. They are stored as ordered pairs, i.e., the fi rst entry is the energy, the sec- ond is the resolution at that energy, the third is the energy, the fourth is the resolution at that energy, and then to the next record. This is intended to provide suffi cient numbers of resolution pairs to allow for an adequate reconstruction of the resolution function by the analysis program. 3.6 energy calibration coeffi cients: The energy (E) (in units of keV) versus channel number (Ch) coeffi - cients as E = A + B · Ch + C · Ch 2 + D · Ch 3 with the coeffi cients, A, B, C, and D stored as four successive 14-character numbers including the decimal point. Leading spaces are interpreted as zeros. Any values not used or calculated should be set to all spaces. The A term is usually called the offset or zero intercept. The B term is usually called the slope of the energy- channel curve. The C term is called the quadratic component of the energy-channel curve. The D term is called the cubic component of the energy-channel curve. 3.7 digital offset: The offset is the position of the intersection point of the zero voltage input value on the channel number axis. The digital offset value is subtracted from the ADC output value before storage. This corresponds to the fi rst channel in the stored spectrum. It is expressed as six characters with leading spaces interpreted as leading zeros. The digital offset is used where the low channel part of the data does not contain useful information and is digitally discarded before storage in the memory. This number is added to the stored data channel number to obtain the ADC output value. This allows various spectra to be compared even if they are incomplete. 3.8 live time: The live time, in seconds and fraction thereof, of acquisition of the spectrum. It is expressed as 14 characters including decimal point with leading zeros interpreted as zeros. 3.9 number of channels: A six-character number (no decimal point) giving the number of channels included in this fi le. The last record contains blank data for the data in excess of the actual number of chan- nels. Leading spaces are interpreted as zeros. 3.10 peak full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) calibration coeffi cients: The full-width-half-maximum (also called shape) (F) versus channel number (Ch) coeffi cients as F = P + Q · Ch I + R · Ch 2 I + W · Ch 3 I with the coeffi cients, P , Q, R , and W stored as four successive 14-character numbers including the decimal point, and I as a four-character number including the decimal point. Leading spaces are interpreted as zeros. Any values not used or calculated should be set to all spaces. The P term is usually called the offset or zero intercept. The I is the lowest exponent of the channel number. In most cases I will be 0.5 for a quadratic dependance of the FWHM with channel and I will be 1.0 for linear dependance of the FWHM with channel. The Q term is the multiplier for the lowest power dependance of the FWHM-channel curve. The R term is the multiplier of the second exponent term of the FWHM-channel curve. The W term is the multiplier of the third exponent term of the FWHM-channel curve. Copyright The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Provided by IHS under license with IEEELicensee=IHS Employees/1111111001, User=O'Connor, Maurice Not for Resale, 04/29/2007 00:13:25 MDTNo reproduction or networking permitted without license from IHS -,-,- IEEE FORMAT FOR NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPYStd 1214-1992 3 3.11 real time: The real time, in seconds and fraction thereof, of acquisition of the spectrum. It is expressed as 14 characters including decimal point