Tutorial 13: Portable Spectrometer Data Processing

Data Setup

The Portable Processing tool operates on ASCII text files. See the example file in the "demo_data\portable_processing directory". Note that the spectra are formatted as columns. Also, there are no identification fields (observation numbers or names) associated with each spectrum – they are identified by their position in the file. The way to accommodate this is to use an text editor with a column select/copy/paste capability: copy your spectra (without the ID fields) into a text file with the correct format; process the spectra to elemental concentrations using the Portable Processing tool; then copy and paste the results back into your original file to re-link the results with your spectra ID's.

Processing Steps

    1. Launch the tool – Portable|Portable Processing.
    2. Open the spectra file – File:Open ASCII Spectra File. Navigate to the "demo_data\portable_spectrometry\portable_processing" directory and select the "spectra_portable.txt" file. The spectra are loaded into memory and the first spectrum displayed. You can now navigate through the file using the Scan controls on the tool window.
    3. Set the processing parameters – File|Set Parameters. Click the Load From File button and select the "parameters_processing_portable.pc" control file from the working directory. For an explanation of the parameters click the Help button. Click Save And Return.
    4. Process the spectra. Click the Calculate button. The results are displayed in the Results listBox.
    5. View the log file – File|View User Log File to see the full results.