A computer program autonomously manages the calibration of a quadrupole ion mass spectrometer intended for use in monitoring concentrations and changes in concentrations of organic chemicals in the cabin air of the International Space Station. The instrument parameters calibrated include the voltage on a channel electron multiplier, a discriminator threshold, and an ionizer current. Calibration is achieved by analyzing the mass spectrum obtained while sweeping the parameter ranges in a heuristic procedure, developed by mass-spectrometer experts, that involves detection of changes in signal trends that humans can easily recognize but cannot necessarily be straightforwardly codified in an algorithm.

The procedure includes calculation of signal-to-noise ratios, signal-increase rates, and background-noise-increase rates; finding signal peaks; and identifying peak patterns. The software provides for several recovery-from-error scenarios and error-handling schemes. The software detects trace amounts of contaminant gases in the mass spectrometer and notifies associated command-and-data-handling software to schedule a cleaning. Furthermore, the software autonomously analyzes the mass spectrum to determine whether the parameters of a radio-frequency ramp waveform are set properly so that the peaks of the mass spectrum are at expected locations.

This work was done by Seungwon Lee and Benjamin J. Bornstein of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Software category.

This software is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Karina Edmonds of the California Institute of Technology at (626) 395-2322. Refer to NPO-45364.



This Brief includes a Technical Support Package (TSP).
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Autonomously Calibrating a Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer

(reference NPO-45364) is currently available for download from the TSP library.

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