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MCS
vs. a Counter and Timer
Although a computer-controlled counter and timer can also be used to
record counting rate as a function of time, the MCS technology
offers several important advantages. The time taken to read, clear,
and start a conventional counter at the end of each counting
interval can range from microseconds to milliseconds. This dead time
causes significant gaps in the recorded data. High performance
multichannel scalers have negligible dead time between counting
intervals (channels), and this avoids blank regions in the recorded
time profile. Conventional counters and timers rarely handle time
intervals shorter than 10 ms, whereas multichannel scalers are
available with minimum dwell times ranging from 2 µs down to 5 ns.
Furthermore, the MCS products in this section include standard
operating software to acquire, display, and manipulate the data.
With a conventional counter and timer one must develop custom
software for the intended application. |
