Pro-Data Instrument Software and Electronics System

Overview

Applied Photophysics is pleased to announce the introduction of our all new Pro-Data instrument software and electronics running under Windows™ XP. This comprises a flexible instrument control and data acquisition software architecture coupled to high performance modular digital electronics. Developing this common architecture for our current and new instruments allows us to deliver a familiar interface to all products and to focus our development resource on improvements that can frequently impact more than one product at a time. In this way no single product is left behind and all benefit from improvements in stability and robustness as inefficiencies and bugs are identified and eliminated.

Designed for both novice and expert, the software front end has been carefully designed to facilitate straightforward experimental configuration, and rapidly build operator confidence. This includes the provision of template based setup procedures and thorough instrument diagnostics. The front end user interfaces of course reflect the instrument for which they are appropriate, but use common motifs for common features and functions. Data management, presentation and analysis modules are common to all Pro-Data based products. The net result is that users can quickly switch between Applied Photophysics instruments with minimal re-training.

All instrument control and data acquisition is carried out by dedicated electronic modules which are combined according to instrument specification and rack mounted for straightforward maintenance and future expansion. Real-time data collection is performed by dedicated 16-bit A/D convertors for all signal channels and advanced features such as automatic gain control and 64-bit digital oversampling are applied to ensure the highest precision and resolution of all measurements. No electronic filtering is used to smooth data prior to acquisition so avoiding any risk of signal distortion associated with traditional analogue filtering methods.

Currently Pro-Data sub-systems are available for the Chirascan Circular Dichroism (CD) Spectrometer and the SX20 stopped-flow spectrometer. Pro-Data upgrades are now also available for the PiStar Kinetic CD spectromter and older SX and DX series stopped-flow instruments via a Pro-Data upgrade. The Pro-Data system will be extended to other instruments in our product range in due course.

Contact APL Technical Support for more information on the Pro-Data system, or click here and fill-in the Information Request Form.