Styx StX S1 Manual del producto

StX S1

Cosmic Ray

Neutron Detector

Technical

Reference Manual

Notice

This document contains proprietary information of the StyX Neutronica GmbH. StyX Neutronica

provides the information and data included in this document for your beneﬁt, but it is not possible

to entirely verify and test all information, in all circumstances, particularly information relating to

non-StyX-Neutronica manufactured products. StyX Neutronica makes neither warranty nor represents

relating to the quality, content, or adequacy of this information. The information in this document is

subject to change without notice. Although every eﬀort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this

manual, StyX Neutronica shall not be liable for any errors, incidental, or consequential damages in

connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this manual or examples herein. StyX Neutronica

assumes no responsibility for damage or loss resulting from the use of this manual, for loss or claims

by third parties, which may arise through the use of Reference Manual or for any damage as a result

of malfunction or repair.

January 27, 2023

StyX Neutronica GmbH

Cecil-Taylor-Ring 12-18, 68309 Mannheim

Germany

[email protected]

Contents

1 General setup and functions 1

1.1 Safety instructions ........................................ 1

1.2 StX S1 Components ....................................... 2

2 Operation 5

2.1 Installation and start-up ..................................... 5

2.1.1 Setup ........................................... 5

2.1.2 Sensor start ....................................... 5

2.1.3 Sensor operation ..................................... 6

2.1.4 Service and transport .................................. 8

2.2 Software conﬁguration ...................................... 8

2.3 Logger data ............................................ 12

Appendix 14

A Technical speciﬁcations ..................................... 14

Part 1

General setup and functions

1.1 Safety instructions

•

Do not modify the electronics of AC-powered devices. Before starting the instrument ensure

hardware integrity.

•

The product is a high voltage device. In operation the ampliﬁer, the cables and connectors to the

proportional counter tubes can carry high voltages above 1000 V. Also when switched oﬀ, due to

built-in capacities high electrostatic voltages can occur. As there are no electric currents above

0.01 mA there is no direct danger to the human body. Yet, by improper handling damages can

be inﬂicted to other electronic devices. Please contact the manufacturer in case of uncertainties

regarding the handling.

•

Contrary to other proportional counter tubes, this device does not contain any dangerous gases.

•

The logger casing (IP 66) and the sensor are protected against splash water. Intrusion of water

can damage the electronics. Please keep all parts of the instrument closed during operation.

•

The supply voltage of the logger should be 12 V and can be in the range 9–24 V. The I

communication with external devices operates at 3.3 V levels.

•The sensor can be operated at temperatures of -20 ◦C to 45 ◦C.

1.2 StX S1 Components

Figure 1.1: The full detection sys-

tem.

The model series StX S1 consists of the components:

- a base unit with the neutron detector,

- ampliﬁer and digitizer (nCatcher) ,

- a logger,

- additional sensors for environmental variables

- a mounting pod

- PV panel and battery for independent operation

The following connectivity features are oﬀered:

- multi-level display to check the detector state,

- UART interface for serial communication, detector settings and data

transfer,

- I2C interface for data transmission,

- GSM/LTE/NB-IoT data transfer.

In the displayed conﬁguration the detector StX S1, PV Panel and

environmental sensors are mounted on a single pole.

Detector Base Unit

The main component of the Cosmic Ray Neutron Detector is the base

unit. It consists of a HDPE casing with a thickness of 2.4 cm and the

dimensions of 146 cm

×∅

18 cm. It contains one tube with a length of

125 cm, which contains a coated copper foil as a converter and Ar:CO

as a counting gas.

nCatcher

The single-channel ampliﬁer is used to read out neutron pulses from

the counting tube. It is operated by an ATmega328P microcontroller

and is connected by a CAT6 RJ45cable of up to 3 m to the logger

for the CRP models or up to 20 m for the CRPX nCatcher models.

It communicates via a 5 V I

C interface. The ampliﬁer records all

signals above a given threshold and measures pulse height and pulse

length with a millisecond timestamp. These events are recorded in a

buﬀer, which allows for an independent operation of the nCatcher for

approximately one minute, depending on the rate.

Logger

The logger acts as the central control unit of the sensor. It collects

data from the neutron counters as well as a number additional sensors

for environmental variables. The data is stored on an SD Card and optionally transmitted via GSM. It

also supplies the attached sensors with 3.3 V, 5 V and 12 V. The logger is located in the logger casing

which also houses the battery as well as the charge controller.

The main processor of the logger is a SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 CPU. It features

•onboard environmental sensors for temperature, air pressure and relative humidity,

•a temperature-stabilized real time clock,

•a status display,

•an SD card slot for FAT/FAT32 formatted cards up to 4 GB.

•

RJ45 (ethernet) connectors for I

C for environmental sensors, I

C for nCatcher units, diﬀerential

I2C for nCatcher units, serial lines for external GPS units,

•an SDI-12 connector for environmental sensors,

•(optionally) an internal 2G, 3G, 4G or NB-IoT modem for telemetry.

Logger, nCatcher and sensors can be operated asynchronously as the logger uses several buﬀers to

store volatile data. Fig. 1.2 shows the main components of the data ﬂow. One or more nCatcher units

record pulses from counting tubes. These are stored in an internal ring buﬀer and are transmitted

upon request to the logger. The logger likewise uses a ring buﬀer to store events before storing them

to the SD card or transmitting them to a data receiver or modem.

Event

Buffer

[64]

new

Event Event

Buffer

[512]

I C

Store/Send

Buffer

GPS V

RTC Temp

Hum

Pres

GSM

UART

nCatcher(s) Central Unit

tube(s)

read write

write

send

Figure 1.2: Data structure for the sensor DAQ.

Figure 1.3: Logger front side with 12 V-in, on/oﬀ switch, display switch, SD card slot, display and USB

connector.

Figure 1.4: Logger back side with SIM card slot, SDI-12 connector, GSM antenna connector, RJ45 connectors

for external devices including cosmic-ray detectors and GPS antenna.

Part 2

Operation

2.1 Installation and start-up

2.1.1 Setup

See the detailed description in the manual ’Cosmic Ray Detector - Mounting Instructions’.

2.1.2 Sensor start

•

Switch on the device by setting the main power switch to the ’On’ position. The status display

shows the StyX Neutronica logo.

•The logger checks whether there is an SD card inserted.

–

If yes, it checks the existence of a correct conﬁguration ﬁle

central.cfg

with the correct

revision in the root folder and whether the conﬁguration ﬁle should be used. In case not

default settings are loaded.

•

the logger settings are adjusted according to the parameters set by the conﬁguration and the

ampliﬁers are set regarding high voltage levels and thresholds.

•the logger scans for environmental sensors.

•

the logger checks the real time clock (RTC). In case of support battery failure the RTC is set to

a standard date and can update itself via GPS.

•in case a GSM module is used, it is activated and its bootup involves the following steps

–initializing of the modem: reset and restart,

–check for a SIM card

–check for signal availability (this requires an external antenna),

–connecting to the access point of the provider,

–check for signal quality.

If any of these steps fail the modem is shut oﬀ.

On the status display the sensor start procedure iterates through the following panels:

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4

Step 5a 6a Step 5b Step 6b

Independently from the logger boot process the nCatcher is initialized with the following steps:

•the microcontroller initializes the internal and external I2C bus,

•

in case successful the connection to nCatcher channel 0 (

0x08

) or channel 1 (

0x09

) is displayed,

•hardware thresholds are adjusted,

•the high voltage (HV) is set.

The values for high voltage and threshold are stored in the internal non-volatile memory (EEPROM).

During the bootup process of the nCatcher these settings are loaded primarily. After that they can

be adjusted by the logger.

2.1.3 Sensor operation

On the status display after booting the following information are presented:

Main Panel - Events Main Panel - count rate

The uppermost two rows show the current logger temperature and relative humidity. The panel

switches in the lowest row between event information and count rate. Both numbers in the event

view are pulse height and pulse length of the last raw data obtained from the nCatcher unit. These

numbers should approximately lie in the range 100

. . .

400. Series of too high or too low values in-

dicate sensor malfunction. The count rate is calculated every 10 s and starts at a value of 0.0. As

the nCatcher operates independently from the logger, it already starts recording events before the

bootup process of the logger is ﬁnished. For this reason the ﬁrst count rate value can be overestimated.

The logger operates in cycles of 1 s in normal mode and 10 s or more in the low-power mode. The

duration of one cycle is not ﬁxed. It can be extended by various operations like a data transfer. The

system time is however obtained from a real time clock and therefore provides a correct measurement

of time. The cycle unit is used for an indirect measurement for adjusting intervals, such as

•

the number of cycles for averaging values of environmental sensors before storing them to the

SD card.

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