Microcomputer control of a source scanner for measurements of radioactive foils

The source scanner consists of a kind of turntable which can also be shifted in one direction. Turning and shifting is done by stepping motors which can be controlled in such a way, that each point of the radioactive foils on the turntable can be brought under a radiation detector in a simple and reproduceable manner. At prescribed points on the foils the radiation spectra can be measured for a certain time by means of a multichannel analyser.

The whole measurement procedure runs automatically and is controlled by a TRS-80 microcomputers, which not only directs the turntable, but also stores the measured spectra on disk and does the bookkeeping of the measurement results as well as the mathematical treatment. For convenience of the users the programmes can be written in BASIC which has been extended by special statements.