Orenstein Lab Instrument Library

This code streamlines the process of introducing a new device into the Orenstein Lab python environment, allowing user to specify all device-specific instructions for communication. It is basically a convenient wrapper for a number of python libraries such as pyVISA and pySerial.

At the core of this library is the generic Device class, which establishes communication via desired comm protocol with the device, keeps a dictionary of commands, and reads/writes to the device. The Device class calls on low-level classes that implement a specific communications protocol, which themselves are based on established Python packages.

Actual instruments are then implemented via additional classes that are derived from Device; see 'instrument_template.py' for an example. The user provides information on the communication standards and the commands (eg, SPCI commands), and with a few lines of code may gain access to the instrument.

To summarize, the workflow is as follows: (1) Write a new device class in a separate module (eg, keithlyXYZ.py contains the KeithlyXCY class) (2) import KeithlyXYZ into a specific application and use, for example:

from instrumentlibrary import keithlyXYZ as kth

current_source = kth.KeithlyXCZ.(address) # initializes the connection
current_source.write('Set Current', 1) # executes a command

User responsibilities:

• identify device's comm-protocol (e.g. RS232, GPIB, etc)
• identify command format (e.g. error correction bit, string length, termination characters, etc)
• identify device comm-port
• identify all relevant device queries (e.g. temperature query, voltage measurement, etc)

Dependencies: pyvisa, pyvisa-py, pyserial