Reduced Instruction Set for Computing RISC

Microprocessors (transputers), with the help of a special language (Occam), can handle flows of information in a parallel fashion instead of sequentially (serially), thereby greatly increasing the speed of operation. Transputers also control the flow of information by communicating with each other. 

A brief outline of the workings of computers and transputers has been presented in Parts A and B of this discussion (see Chapters 42 and 43), and both should be read before reading this chapter unless the reader is already familiar with the basics of computing. Additional details on some of the functions discussed here are available in other chapters of this book, and cross-references are given where relevant. 

A true baseline output from an ion detector is electrically noisy and, if recorded as such, the noise would appear as a great many small (unwanted) peaks. By creating an artificial baseline at a voltage just above the noise, the small peaks are eliminated and only the desired signal is recorded. It is important not to set the artificial baseline voltage too high, since this would eliminate too much of the required peak. 

Once the peaks have been collected and stored, the computer can be asked to work on the data to produce a mass spectrum and print it out, or it can be asked to carry out other operations such as library searching, producing a mass chromatogram, and making an accurate mass measurement on each peak. Many other examples of the use of computers to process mass data are presented in other chapters of this book. 

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