User manual FLUORESCENCE FM-PCI-PC-DAQ2.7

[. . . ] FluorMeasureTM Version 2. 7 Acquisition Software User Manual for the PC-DAQ Controller C&L Instruments, Inc. 314 Scout Lane Hummelstown, PA 17036 Phone: 717-564-9491 Fax: 802-609-1713 E-mail: support@fluorescence. com Web site: www. fluorescence. com Table of Contents Table of Contents List of Figures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Chapter 1: About FluorMeasureTM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Program Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Technical Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] Using this feature, you can set FluorMeasureTM as the "front end" of a larger data acquisition system. This analog output is available only when either the EX or EM filter wheel, or both wheels are operated in the Spin mode. When both filter wheels are operated in the Seek mode and there are multiple entries in the Sequencer table, the analog output is not available. Although this is a generally useful feature, outputting data directly from FluorMeasureTM in this fashion has some limitations. FluorMeasureTM is a pure digital system, and higher data fidelity can be obtained by collecting data within FluorMeasureTM. FluorMeasureTM and the PC-DAQ Controller card operate the C&L fluorescence detection system in a photon counting mode. This is an inherently digital system and some degradation in signal quality is expected when the signals are converted to an analog voltage. To output the digital fluorescence data as an analog output, the PC-DAQ Controller card uses eight separate 12-bit D/A converters. One D/A converter is used for each fluorescence channel. The D/A converter is set internally to output 1 millivolt per fluorescence count. Thus, there is a direct correlation between the photon count observed in the data Monitor window and the analog output for a particular fluorescence channel. However, the PC-DAQ Controller uses a 16-bit fluorescence count architecture. To output these data to the 12-bit D/A converter, a shift register is used. This is configured as a gain amplifier in FluorMeasureTM, and its operation is shown diagrammatically in Figure 8. In this figure, the 12 bits used by the 12 bit D/A converter are shown in gray for each of the analog output gain settings. FluorMeasure (version 2. 7) Data Acquisition Software User Manual For the PC-DAQ Controller TM Page 29 Chapter 5: Command Reference Counter Bit No. 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Output Gain (all Channels) 1x 2x 4x 8x 16x Figure 8. Bit shift operation in the D/A Output Gain feature. The Analog tab has 5 settings to adjust the gain for the analog output. When set for 1x, the 12 most significant bits of the 16 bit counter are mapped into the 12 bit used by the D/A converter. With this setting, 65, 536 counts (i. e. , 216) would be equivalent to a full 12 bit output of 4. 096 volts (i. e. , 1 millivolt per bit). At a gain setting of 2x, the full output of 4. 096 volts would be obtained with 32, 768 counts. At the highest gain setting of 16x, the full output would be obtained with 4, 096 counts. [. . . ] For instance, if the HEKA pulse duration is 800 mseconds and the FluorMeasureTM aperture Sampling Time is 4 mseconds, the number of points would be set to 50 using a 4-position filter wheel in the Spin Mode. 50 points = (800 / (4 * 4)) If the computed number of points is a fraction, enter the next highest integer. FluorMeasureTM Trigger Experiment Setup Next, configure the Trigger Setup dialog box in FluorMeasureTM, as shown in Figure 19. Set the Trigger source to be External (A). [. . . ]