A mixed analog-digital pulse spectrometer

This paper presents and discusses some applications and advantages of a hyb rid spectrometer system that contains a high performance Pulse-Height Analy zer (PHA) and a Digital Pulse Processor (DPP). This mixed analog-digital sy stem, based on a TMS320C31 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), is implemented i n a single board to be hosted in the Personal Computer's ISA bus. Beyond th e independent use of the PHA and the DPP units, their integration allow for additional features to be performed without the need of external equipment . Among those features are pileup rejection, pulse shape discrimination, ba llistic deficit correction and the capability to measure the experimental n oise in order to optimize the pulse shaping parameters or to correct the pu lse heights given by the analog PMA. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.