HEX-PAM Data Acquisition System for long-term Monitoring of PAM Fluorescence

The HEX-PAM has been developed in response to the growing demands for continuous, multisite monitoring of photosynthesis by PAM chlorophyll fluorescence.

In comparison to the established MONITORING–PAM, the HEX-PAM system uses measuring heads containing only the minimum set of optical and electronic components required to measure fluorescence; all additional electronic elements are situated in the HEX-PAM central unit.

The HEX-PAM design results in more compact measuring heads which permits measurements at sites which are difficult to access.
On the other hand, the location of electronics for PAM measurements in the HEX-PAM unit restricts the maximum distance between HEX-PAM and measuring heads to about 2 meters.

One HEX-PAM unit can be connected to the data acquisition system MONI-DA using any of the 7 ports for MONIHEAD/485 measuring heads. This way, the number of monitoring sites of a MONITORING-PAM system can be increased from 7 to 12.

System Features

The HEX-PAM unit forms the center of a system designed for long-term monitoring of PAM fluorescence.
The HEX-PAM includes the electronics required to control light emission and to process fluorescence signals of up to 6 measuring heads.
The measuring heads are denoted emitter-detector units (ED) because they essentially comprise an LED as light emitter and a photodiode as fluorescence detector. Accordingly, the HEXPAM has an end plate equipped with six ports for ED measuring heads. The opposite plate is dedicated to communication and control of peripherals.
Adding an interface (MONI-IB1) and a suitable computer completes a basic HEX-PAM system.