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Detailed introduction
Display and user interface features
MAESTRO offers an intuitive user interface that simplifies hardware control and routine and advanced measurement procedures. Features can be quickly accessed via "shortcut keys" or toolbar buttons.
When using MAESTRO, the spectrum window that the user is most interested in will be mainly displayed. Up to eight real-time detectors and eight saved spectra can also be displayed simultaneously. Full and expanded views of each spectrum can be displayed simultaneously. An expanded view of the spectrum can be zoomed in to examine specific peaks or energy regions. Both windows display any marked region of interest (ROI), and the zoomed area can be easily repositioned by simply clicking on a new location in the full spectrum display.
When viewing a live detector, the spectral view updates in real time and displays current spectral data, real-time peak calculations and hardware properties - this also works for remote instruments connected to different computers on the network. Easily view spectral peaks, library energies, or regions of interest using convenient side panel buttons.
Individual regions of interest (ROIs) or peak areas can be easily viewed using advance peak searches or "rubber rectangle" functions. Multiple regions required can be marked and saved into an "ROI" file, which can be later recalled and applied to different spectra.
MAESTRO has a variety of display options. Choose from a variety of color schemes and display spectra as dots or solid bars. These settings can be used to create views for various lighting conditions, or as your preferences.
Advanced features
In addition to basic MCA simulation capabilities, MAESTRO also has advanced features for rapid evaluation of spectral data, such as:
- Multi-point energy and peak shape calibration for accurate peak calculations.
- Fast Mariscotti peak search instantly marks areas of interest based on user-defined sensitivity settings.
- Identification of nuclides from application-specific libraries. Isotopic labeling reveals the energy position in the library along with an estimate of the amplitude at each peak to confirm identification.
- Peak calculations include center trace, shape, total and net area with uncertainty, and semi-quantitative nuclide activity based on peak abundance correction.
- Determine background by averaging individual lane counts.
- FWHM accuracy is improved when the peak center trace falls between the two channels.
- The Region of Interest (ROI) report contains all peak calculation parameters for each marked region.
- Interactive "jump to peaks" using ROI markers, libraries or peak search options.
- Spectrum overlay allows direct visual comparison of sample results with the reference.
- Spectrum peeling can clearly show differences or remove background.
- Spectrum smoothing to improve statistically suboptimal peak shapes.
These functions can be used with saved spectra or while operating on the detector. While data collection is in progress, the peak calculations displayed in the Peak Information window update in real time so that results are available immediately.
Job automation
Although MAESTRO's toolbar and menu interface is simple and intuitive, this method of operation does not guarantee the consistent processing typically required when measurements are taken frequently or by different people. In these cases, a more structured approach may be more suitable, and simple text scripts called "jobs" provide this functionality in MAESTRO. The command set includes operations seen previously and has been expanded in version 7 to include list mode functionality, closing the MCB or buffer window, and enhancements to the "WAIT" command for improved efficiency. Custom processes can also be implemented using the "RUN" command, which is used to start any external application.
A job file can be automatically run when MAESTRO starts by setting the path to the job file as a command line parameter in a Windows shortcut. This method is often used to establish a consistent process from a common starting point and provides a simple way to run multiple jobs in separate MAESTROs.
Hardware control
With the release of Connections version 8, 64-bit Windows 7 is compatible with all instruments using USB and TCP/IP connection protocols. This update also retains instrument compatibility previously supported by 32-bit Windows XP and/or Windows 7. Host-dependent instruments (such as plug-in cards or USB devices) can be shared on the network via the MCB server running on each computer. This process allows a 64-bit Windows 7 computer to operate 64-bit incompatible instruments through its 32-bit host.
The interface between hardware and software is provided through the ORTEC Connections architecture. This application layer contains all hardware drivers and communication protocols required by software applications to control MCB (multichannel buffer) instruments. Hardware controls are accessible via MCB property pages integrated with MAESTRO and other standard ORTEC applications.
MCB property pages are instrument-specific, so only applicable functionality is presented to the user. Common characteristics of various instruments include:
- Detector HV control
- Curve and trim gain adjustments
- Zero point and gain stabilizer
- SMART-1 detector features
- ZTD lossless counting correction
- Analog and Digital Amplifier Filters
- Automatic and manual optimization
- Sample changer control
- Detective instrument ID results
- Insight scope mode
- Battery voltage monitoring of portable instruments.
- Acquisition presets including real and live time, ROI peak, ROI integrated value, peak uncertainty or MDA
More details about the hardware capabilities can be found in the relevant product literature.
"List" mode spectrum collection
The acquisition mode in nuclear spectrum measurements is pulse height analysis or PHA mode. In this mode, spectra are collected on an event basis during the input pulse height data (commonly referred to as the acquisition time). This data is stored in a histogram relative to pulse height (usually proportional to energy). A spectrum is a histogram of all events during the acquisition.
List mode acquisition adds another dimension to PHA mode. During acquisition, each event is "time stamped," meaning the time of its occurrence is recorded along with its pulse height. After acquisition is complete, the data can be classified and spectra constructed to represent measurements during some period of interest, such as when a detection system experiences a high-activity transient.
List mode data acquisition is already available on some ORTEC instruments, such as digiBASE, digiBASE-E, DSPEC Pro, and most recently the DSPEC-50/502, but it can only be accessed through custom applications using the Connections Programmer's Toolkit. With the release of MAESTRO version 7, this functionality is now accessible in the standard application!
In MAESTRO version 7, the evaluation of list mode data after acquisition itself is very simple! When loaded into the buffer window, the collection start and stop time ranges can be changed to instantly create a complete spectrum representing the selected time period. This process allows direct selection of a "period of interest", or the software can scan the entire collection period using a user-defined window. Identifying periods of transient activity can be so easy!
After defining a specific time period of interest, the data set can be saved to a new list mode file consisting of a subset of this data, or to any traditional ORTEC spectrum format compatible with all standard ORTEC applications. These formats include:
- CHN Compact binary format containing basic MCA simulation data - such as detector and sample descriptions, energy calibration, acquisition information and spectra.
- SPC Compact binary format containing more advanced parameters used by products such as GammaVision.
- SPE Simple ASCII text format containing similar data to CHN files.
