We are constantly working to improve our products. The current version of the kSA 400 software is version 4.60. The improvements in this software and for the previous versions 4.40, 4.30 and 4.25 are detailed below. A complete list of the current kSA software features is available on the kSA 400 software specifications page. Please contact us for more information about upgrading your kSA 400.
 Version 4.60 Enhancements:
- Real-Time Growth Rate. A chart is displayed that shows the growth rate in real-time, while taking data. Previously growth rate could only be determined after the data run was finished, post acquisition.
- Real-Time Scan Mode Image Display. Allows user to see the lines in a Scan Mode image as it is being generated during acquisition, as opposed to after the acquisition is complete.
- Region Color and Windows Displayed and Stored in Data Files. In Scan Mode when storing an image the selected regions (windows and lines) and their associated colors are saved and displayed in the data file. This makes it easy to go back and see where data was taken from in the image.
- Increased Data Point Limit. Previous versions of the kSA 400 could acquire a maximum of 30,000 data points in Scan Mode. Now the kSA 400 can acquire up to 1 billion data points to allow for taking a lot of data over a long period of time.
- Multiple Live Video Inputs to PXR Frame Grabber. kSA 400 now accommodates inputs for up to four separate cameras using a PXR analog frame grabber.
- New Data Acquisition Support, Including USB-based analog I/O. USB data I/O modules, for example analog in and analog out, are now supported. USB data modules plug into the USB port, no PCI slot needed.
- More Firewire Camera Support. kSA 400 now supports a variety of firewire cameras with simple cabling and inexpensive firewire boards.
- More Efficient Memory Management. kSA 400 is now more efficient with clearing memory that is no longer being used allowing users to run the software for long periods of time without running our of memory.
Version 4.40 Enhancements:
- Manual Tracking. Allows user to manually move tracking boxes in the event that the spots move out of range, for example due to a phase transition.
- Storing Regions on an Image. Associate a box with a certain spot on a RHEED pattern.
- Color Map. Stores data in the same color as the box associated to the region the data came from.
Version 4.30 Enhancements:
- Double Precision Data Storage. All calculated parameters are now stored with double precision instead of single precision float for utmost accuracy. All generated data files (with the exception of image files) store values as double precision float as well.
- Easy Chart Rescaling. Simple x and y-range rescaling using mouse positioning over the chart. Does away with the need to manually set x-range and y-range with numerical values. Note the rescaling automatically applies to any derived charts, i.e. a derived chart is automatically updated based on the new data set in the rescaled chart.
- Movie Filters. Now you can trim your movies by cutting frames at the beginning or end, and skipping N frames throughout the movie to generate new, smaller movies.
- More Image Processing Filters. We’ve added more image processing filters, including “Spot Finder”, which allows you to locate and mark spots in images.
- Three Different Fitting Techniques for Growth Rate. We’ve added more growth rate fitting techniques. We now offer growth rate FFT, growth rate extrema counter and growth rate damped sine fit.
- User-Defined Current Limit for Gun Control Option. Per our customers’ requests, you can now set your own maximum allowable filament current. This value overrides the default gun maximum current, although the user’s inputted value can never exceed the manufacturer’s specified maximum value.
Version 4.25 Enhancements:
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  Data Processing and Fitting Filters. Now, in addition to image processing filters, a host of data processing and fitting filters are available. These filters can be applied to any 2D data, e.g. linescans, lattice spacing, intensity profiles, etc. Filters include bandpass, derivative, polynomial fit, Gaussian fit, cubic spline fit, and digital filter fit.
- Powerful IDL™ Graphics. The IDL graphics and data processing language, developed by Research Systems, Inc. (www.rsinc.com), has been incorporated into the kSA 400, yielding extraordinary graphing and visualization power. 3D rendering, triple region plots, multiple data set display, interactive mouse rotation, and full plot customization are just a few of the new data visualization features.
- Programmability. You can now write your own image process filters, data processing filters, analysis routines, and real-time charts in the kSA 400. Using IDL™ (the Interactive Data Language), C-like procedures may be written using a standard text editor. These procedures are then compiled at launch of the kSA 400 system, and the successfully compiled procedures become part of the kSA 400 application.
- Additional Import/Export Capability. All kSA 400 images may be exported to .tif, .gif, .bmp, and .png files. kSA 400 charts may be exported to .tif, .wmf, .bmp, .eps, .png, and .txt files.
- Spreadsheet/Excel™ Capability. Any kSA 400 chart may now be displayed in Excel spreadsheet form, and may also be exported to .xls (Excel) file format.
- Networking Capability. For sites desiring multiple users for data analysis and archiving, a network-capable software license is now possible, allowing multiple users to perform all kSA 400 functions, with the exception of data acquisition from a live video source.
- Firewire and USB Camera Support. The kSA 400 now supports acquisition from IEEE-1394 (Firewire) and USB cameras.
- Real -Time/Near Real-Time Surface, Contour, and Histogram Charts. Now you can display real-time (or near real-time, depending on your cpu speed and size of region of interest) surface, contour, and histogram charts as live video streams in, all while still acquiring data (Scan Mode) or simply displaying the incoming data (Focus Mode).
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