This program reads a stream of data from the PC sound card and picks out pulses, the pulses are subsequently filtered and written to a JSON file in a special format called NPESv2-JSON. A live histogram and counts per second can be viewed in the browser tabs.
The current version of Impulse is compatible with Gammaspectacular Sound Card spectrometers, Theremino adaptors, Atom-Nano and GS-Max devices with USB serial communication. When used in serial device mode the already completed spectrum is retrieved from the device and the program performs the display monitor function only.
Download the precompiled executable for Mac or Windows.
https://github.com/ssesselmann/impulse/releases or https://www.gammaspectacular.com/blue/software-downloads/impulse
Mac users - Move the app to your applications folder and launch it the normal way.
Windows users - just save the .exe file anywhere on your PC
The app opens up in your default browser and may request permission to access your microphone (sound card).
Upon launching Impulse will create it's data directory in your home directory ~/impulse_data_2.0
Download and install the latest version of Python from the official site, consider upgrading if you are on an old version ... www.python.org
Download Impulse from the Github repository here https://github.com/ssesselmann/impulse
Unzip the package to the preferred location on your drive, something like ~/python/ for all your python scripts.
Open your terminal to the command line and navigate to the folder ~/python/impulse-main
Impulse requires some additional python libraries installed, so copy and paste the following into your terminal;
First you will need to install or upgrade pip, pip is a catalogue of available python extensions.
Install or upgrade to the latest version of pip..
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
Windows or Linux
pip install -r requirements_pc.txt
Mac
pip3 install -r requirements_mac.txt
Now from the impulse-main directory run the program by typing
python code/impulse.py
mac users may have to type
python3 code/impulse.py
Fingers crossed your default browser should open up and show tab 1
Look for any error messages in the terminal. A common problem is a missing library, if so try installing it separatelly.
pip install ??????
Always exit the program from tab 4 by clicking the exit button (important)
When it's all working you can access the program in your browser at;
- Build interval histogram with Dead time calculation
- Show Subtraction in spectrum name
- Save background subtracted spectra
If anyone has requests for additional features please contact me via the "Contact us" link at gammaspectacular.com
Steven Sesselmann
Gammaspectacular.com