The software controlling the new UHP system will be significantly upgraded in early November.  This post describes the system upgrade.

We also describe the valuable features of a new display we recently installed in the control room.

1. MR Software Upgrade

Our 3T Ultra-High Performance system is scheduled for a host computer and operating system upgrade over Nov. 2 – 4.  GE will be installing what is known as the RX28R04 release.

This upgrade is fully integrated in GE’s commercial release software.  The current version of the operating system is a special-purpose patch that was developed for our unique hardware.  The patched system had some restrictions.  The host computer will also be updated so we expect some modest increase in system speed and user interface responsiveness.

Here are two changes.

• Some users have noticed that the timezone on our system is CDT — something we haven’t been able to change given the nature of the patch OS we’re running currently.  This will be fixed in the upgrade.
• A behind-the-scenes feature of the Hyperband product that is currently running is that it restricts the number of slices per band to be an odd number — this means if a user specifies a Hyperband factor of 6x and a total number of slices being 60, the system will “round up” and acquire a total of 66 slices (6 of which are discarded) in order to keep the number of slices per band to 11 — an odd number.  This requirement will be removed in the new upgrade allowing odd or even number of slices per band.  If you’re interested there is more detail on our Slack channel regarding the why’s and wherefore’s of this issue — and may be an incentive to also join Slack if you’re not already a member (see our post https://cni.stanford.edu/slack-and-volunteers/). If your Hyperband protocol already had an odd number of slices per band then this upgrade will not have any significant impact. 

There will be additional new features, and we will provide more information regarding this upgrade closer to the installation date.  We plan to provide time on Nov. 4 for users to have some time to ensure their restored protocols work as expected. More on the new system features in a future blog.

2. New TV in CNI Control Room

We have installed a new Sony Bravia X900H display in the scan control room.  This display can correctly receive the signal from the scanner host computer.  This enables us to direct the video matrix switch input from the Scanner Host (#1) to the TV Wall monitor in order to replicate the host display for other researchers in your group if desired.  We will be using this system for training, as it will allow for greater distancing between researchers.
Thanks and stay safe!

The CNI Team