Development of Standardized Protocols for Communication Between Various Components of the NAA Process

The automation of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) can benefit from a modern open system architecture (OpenNAA), that allows users to combine the best sub-systems, such as data acquisition, sample changers, and data processing modules, into one system, in a simple, modular, reliable, platform independent way. The development of the OpenNAA software provides an architecture that abstracts the various hardware/software and software/software interactions, and allows the development of interchangeable software modules for: communication with data acquisition systems, and specialised hardware such as sample changers, sample loaders; storage and retrieval of spectral data; data analysis; and searching and retrieval of analysis data. The adoption of OpenNAA based software by facilities will provide a path for easy migration to new hardware and software in the future, while preserving existing investments. (author)