Taking data

Pypixie16 provides several ways to take data.

Normally, the following steps need to be taken:

• initialize using pixie16.control.init_and_boot()

• change settings (see previous section)

• set run time pixie16.control.set_run_time(...)

• take histogram or list mode data using ‘pixie16.control.start_histogram_run()’ or pixie16.control.start_list_mode_run()

• for list mode runs: have a for loop to check runtime and status and download and save data. Pypixie16 also provides pixie16.control.run_list_mode() and pixie16.control.take_list_mode_data() for this use case.

• for histograms one can also use pixie16.control.take_MCA_spectra()

• save settings and stats using pixie16.control.save_dsp_parameters_as_json() and pixie16.control.save_stats_to_file()

• end the run `pixie16.contro.end_run()

• finally one can also exit the system completely using pixie16.control.exit_system()

It is worth browsing pixie16.control to see what other functions are provided to make this easier. Examples can be seen in the exectubales, for example, pixie16.cli.parameter_scan

More complex scenarios

If the data needs to be operated on while taking data, for example, finding channels in list mode data that belong to a single coincidence event and generate custom plots in live mode, pypixie16 provides data pipelines in pixie16.pipeline. Here, single tasks can be defined and put together into a data pipeline. Data can be easily moved from one tasks to the next and each tasks runs in a separate process to parallelize operation and to not impeded the rate at which data is taken.

Pypixie16 comes already with some predifined tasks in pixie16.tasks. These include:

• taking data

• providing dummy data from a file (no Pixi16 needed), this is useful for debugging

• saving data to disk in larger chunks

• convert list mode data to python structures

• sort events by time and add a UTC time stamp from the local computer