CoMPASS

Overview

CAEN Multi-PArameter Spectroscopy Software (CoMPASS) is the DAQ software from CAEN able to implement a Multiparametric Data Acquisition for Physics Applications: the detectors can be connected directly to the digitizers/MCAs inputs and the software acquires energy, timing, and PSD spectra at the same time.
CoMPASS software has been designed as a user-friendly interface to manage the acquisition with all the CAEN DPP algorithms. It allows an easy setting of the acquistion parameters and to display up to six different plots and histograms at the same time.

CoMPASS can manage multiple boards and allows an easy synchronization of multiboard systems. Among the most important features, CoMPASS allows to implement event correlation between different channels (in hardware and/or software), apply energy, PSD and time selections, calculate and show the acquisition statistics (trigger rates, data throughput, percentage of discarded events due to the selections, etc…), perform a basic mathematical analysis of the recorded spectra (ROI selection, background subtraction, peak fitting, etc), save the output data files (raw data, lists, waveforms, spectra) and use the saved files to run offline with different processing parameters.

The user familiar with the ROOT Analysis Framework, CoMPASS provides also the possibility of saving the output files (lists waveforms and spectra) in the ROOT TTree format for an easy post processing with user made analysis code. CoMPASS software supports CAEN x720, x724, x725, x730, x740D x751 digitizer families running the DPP-PSD, DPP-QDC and DPP-PHA, the x780 / x781 / x782 MCA families and the Pulse Processor DT5790.

Applications

• Nuclear spectroscopy
• Clover detectors
• HPGe, Silicon Drift Detectors
• Neutron physics with scintillation detectors
• Multiple boards synchronization
• Homeland security
• Precise Timing for Time of Flight measurements