PRA 17 Release

[Sesselmann]

Hi Guys,

A few weeks ago Marek released PRA version 17.0 and I haven't had a chance to write about it until now.

Changes in version 17.0.0.0
1. Changed: Increased maximum number of pulses from 10 000 000 to 39 732 226.

This change has caused a few issues for me running PRA on my Mac with Crossover emulation software, so it looks like I have to increase the RAM to make it work. For the moment I am running it on an old PC without issues.

2. Added: Export Pulse Height Histogram vs Time menu. It exports data from pulse height histograms created for each period defined in Data Acquisition and Analysis → Counting rate vs Time → Bin size /s to text file in form of a matrix. The matrix can be imported to any good data analysis program to make 3D representations of how the spectrum changes with time. Set large value of the period before exporting data for your histograms to be accurate enough. This was tested to work with QtiPlot.

This was one of my requests and it's pretty cool, it brings a whole new dimension into spectrometry and could be useful for many real world applications. A few that spring to mind are homeland security and well logging for mining companies. Use your imagination here...

I like the way Marek combined the histogram time interval with the existing Counts vs Time setting, so make sure you choose a suitable time interval for your array as this choice will determine your resolution along the time axis.

A very basic representation can be achieved using Excel as seen below, but it has limitations as you can't arbitrarily rotate the graph in real time.

Excel Plot

A much better representation of the surface can be made using Qtiplot where you simply copy and paste the data into an array and select a suitable way to represent the graph.

http://www.qtiplot.com/download.html

Qtplot Array

I really look forward to hearing and seeing how this feature can be used.

Steven

[pilgrim]

Very nice! As soon as I finish to calibrate my GS I'll surely try it.

[pilgrim]

Hi Steven,
this morning I was trying PRA 17 and during the calibration with LYSO PRA gave me this message: gaussian table overflow

These are my settings

This doesn't happen with PRA16, with same settings and same source and I don't understand the reason of this message and how to avoid it.

Can you help me?
Thank you.

[Sesselmann]

Daniel,

This message usually appears when you have too many bins, so you can try reducing the number of bins, however the new version is heavy on memory use, I can't run it on my mac because it needs more memory. Runs okay on my old Windows laptop.

If this is a general problem, we can go back to Marek and ask him to make it lighter.

Steven

[pilgrim]

Hi Steven,
my fault, I used the comma as decimal point instead of the point.
Now it works fine.

Thank you.