Question
How do I perform warmup, pre-irradiation and background measurement for myQA StarTrack³?
Answer
Warm-up
The electronics of the device require a warm-up time interval to be in the proper condition. The warm-up time for myQA StarTrack³ is 5 minutes. For absolute dose calibrations, the warm-up time is 60 minutes.
Pre-irradiation
As the sensors of the device are ion chambers, they need a certain dose of pre-irradiation before the chamber response reaches a stable level.
It is recommended to use the same energy as the planned measurement for pre-irradiation, with a 30 cm x 30 cm field size of 500 MU at SSD 100 cm. The field size should not exceed 35 cm x 35 cm to avoid exposure to the electronics.
The pre-irradiation can be performed during the warm-up phase and should be repeated every time the device is switched on, and at least every 8 hours.
Background measurement
There are 3 types of background measurement can be selected:
- Automated - collects the background automatically when the device is connected and can be refreshed anytime by the user
- Manual - the background measurement will be collected manually
- None - No background measurement is collected