Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology (SJST) (Apr 2011)
Pocket PC-based portable gamma-ray spectrometer
Abstract
A portable gamma-ray spectrometer based on a Pocket PC has been developed. A 12-bit pipeline analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) associated with an implemented pulse height histogram function on field programmable gate array (FPGA)operating at 15 MHz is employed for pulse height analysis from built-in pulse amplifier. The system, which interfaces withthe Pocket PC via an enhanced RS-232 serial port under the microcontroller facilitation, is utilized for spectrum acquisition,display and analysis. The pulse height analysis capability of the system was tested and it was found that the ADC integralnonlinearity of ±0.45% was obtained with the throughput rate at 160 kcps. The overall system performance was tested usinga PIN photodiode-CsI(Tl) crystal coupled scintillation detector and gamma standard radioactive sources of Cs-137 andCo-60. Low cost and the compact system size as a result of the implemented logical function are also discussed.
