Posted on by maxfomitchev

Ortec digiBASEE-E is very cool and compact gamma spectrometer integrated with 14-pin PMT base, and it comes with a very detailed and complete manual. To operate the spectrometer one must have a scintillation detector with a 14-pin PMT and a copy of Ortec’s Maestro MCA software, which is sold separately.

Last time I checked, digiBASE-E was priced at about $6,000 and Maestro software at $2,000. So, for about $9-10k you can get a complete gamma spectrometer system when buying new. Or you can get one complete with the Bicron 2″ NaI(Tl) probe for a small fraction of the price here.

Ortec digiBASE-E gamma spectrometer complete with the Bicron 2M2 NaI(Tl) detector.

In this post I am going to take a deeper look at digiBASE-E.

digiBASE-E

Ethernet connectivity for radiation detectors comes in very handy when working with multiple devices spread out across an experimental setup. While USB connectivity is a no-brainer choice for a desktop measurement system, larger setups will clearly benefit from ethernet for two reasons:

  • there are no limits on how long the cables could be, and
  • ethernet devices operate autonomously and independently of the host PC.

Connecting digiBASE-E requires PoE. Nowadays most routers and switches provide PoE ports. If this is not the case, you can use a PoE injector to give power to your digiBASE-E device. In all cases it is best to connect your digiBASE directly to your network switch just like you do with all of your ethernet devices such as computers, printers, or wireless access points.

digiBASE-E can be configured to use DHCP, in which case you do not need to worry about IP addresses. Alternatively you can set it up to use a specific IP address.

To get started with digiBASE you must install Maestro MCA software.

Maestro Software Setup

This is what it takes to setup and configure Maestro software on a Windows 10 PC.

  1. First run the connections setup, which installs the necessary drivers. For digiBASE check the USB-instruments and the DigiBASE-E boxes – Fig. 1.
  2. Install Maestro software.
  3. Then run Ortec Device Controller – Fig. 2 – and click ‘Find All digiBASE-Es’ button to get a all digiBASE-E devices connected to the local network. If you did not yet connect your digiBASE-E to ethernet you can do it at any time. Just be sure to click the ‘Find All digiBASE-Es’ button again once the device has a chance to boot and obtain a network address (this may take a minute).
  4. Click on the device you wish to connect to, check the ‘Attach to this device’ box and click Save. You can also specify a friendly device name; this name will appear in Maestro’s list of devices.
  5. Run Maestro software and from the drop down list in the toolbox choose the device you wish to connect to – Fig. 3.
  6. To start data acquisition select Acquire | MCB properties from the menu and turn on the bias voltage on your detector – Fig. 4 and click ‘Go’ button to start acquiring spectrum. From this point on digiBASE-E will start acquiring data regardless of whether the Maestro software is running or not. As long as the device has power it will keep operating and you can view the spectrum next time you launch Maestro.
Fig. 1. Connections setup.
Fig. 2. Ortec device controller.
Fig. 3. Maesto software device list.
Fig. 4. Bias voltage control.

Overall, functionality of Maestro is sufficient but not that rich as that of the PulseCounter software.

Direct Ethernet Connection

If you have a computer with an ethernet port, you may wonder, is it possible to connect a digiBASE-E directly to your computer? The answer is yes – Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Ortec digiBASE-E connected to PC.

However, I DO NOT RECOMMEND this approach because unless you are running a Server edition of Windows, the DHCP service available on a Pro, Home or Ultimate edition of Windows 10 is rather primitive and generally is not intended to run a network off your computer. Therefore you must jump through a few hoops as follows:

  1. Connect digiBASE-E to a PoE injector and connect the PoE injector to your PC’s Ethernet port.
  2. Reboot your PC (as a result of Step 1 will likely loose your Wi-Fi connectivity, rebooting will fix it).
  3. Bridge your Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections by going to ‘View Network Connections’, selecting both your Ethernet and Wi-Fi, right clicking on the Wi-Fi connection and selecting ‘Bridge Connections’ from the context menu – Fig. 6.
  4. Power-cycle the PoE injector – this is necessary for the digiBase-E to pick up a network address via DHCP.
  5. Reboot the PC (because you are not using Windows Sever, the address assigned to the digiBASE-E will conflict with the IP address of your PC, the reboot will assign your PC a new address).
  6. Execute steps 3-6 from the previous section, and voila!
Fig. 6. Bridge Ethernet with Wi-Fi.