"LabOS" Closed-loop, Protocol-driven, Data Acquisition & Experiment Control

描述(由申请人提供)：重要目标：生物医学研究、人体性能和其他实验室与活体受试者一起工作，并执行软件“解决方案”提供商意想不到的复杂实验，必须花费大量资源来创建和维护数据采集和控制(DAQ&C)系统，这些系统由于其复杂性或糟糕的文档而在其他实验室很少有用，并由于设计限制和硬件依赖而迅速过时。我们有一个DAQ&C系统的工作原型，称为“Labos”，它[1]可在“操作员”、“实验者”和“程序员”级别使用，并提供[2]确定性(“硬”)千赫速率的闭环控制、[3]高速缓冲采样(例如，尖峰分析)、[4]多线程、基于状态机、数据相关、实验协议和[5]现代的、信息量丰富的实时图形界面，用于查看和控制正在进行的实验，[6]在多个平台上，不依赖于不寻常的或单一来源的硬件。我们现在建议[1]细分和强化系统，以便用户可修改的部分可以轻松且安全地重新配置，而其他部分是不可见的，[2]概括实验室的某些方面以支持其最广泛的使用，[3]提供数据导出工具，[4]优化平台独立性[5]生成上下文、参考和教程文档，[6]支持基于Web的组件库，以及[7]在扩展的开发周期中执行测试版测试程序来评估初始用户的经验和建议。方法：LabVIEW-RT(R)下，LABOS用“G”字书写。Labos控制台可以在Mac OS X、Windows或Linux下运行。LABOS服务器和控制器在任何National Instruments(TM)实时硬件目标上运行，包括PXI底盘、PCI板和一些台式个人电脑。公共卫生相关性：获得受控良好的实验数据定义了经验科学，然而，现有的DAQ&C系统不能支持复杂的实验，需要持续的程序员支持，或者只支持专门的、流行的范例。一个DAQ&C系统提供了进行创新生物医学实验的能力和灵活性，将具有重大的科学和财政价值。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Significant Aims: Biomedical research, human performance and other laboratories that work with living subjects and perform complex experiments unanticipated by software "solution" providers, must expend significant resources creating & maintaining data acquisition and control (DAQ&C) systems that are seldom useful in other labs because of their complexity or poor documentation, and quickly become obsolete because of design limitations and hardware dependencies. We have a working prototype of a DAQ&C system, called "LabOS" that [1] is usable at "Operator", "Experimenter" and "Programmer" levels, and provides [2] deterministic ("hard") closed-loop control at kilohertz rates, [3] high speed buffered sampling (eg, for spike profiling), [4] multi-thread, state machine based, data-contingent, experimental protocols, and [5] a modern, richly informative, realtime graphical interface for viewing & controlling ongoing experiments, [6] on multiple platforms, with no dependence on unusual or single-source hardware. We now propose to [1] segment & harden the system so that user modifiable parts are easily & safely reconfigured, and other parts are invisible, [2] generalize certain aspects of LabOS to support its widest possible use, [3] provide data export tools, [4] optimize platform independence [5] produce contextual, reference and tutorial documentation, [6] support a web-based component library, and [7] conduct a beta test program to evaluate the experiences and suggestions of initial users, in an extended development cycle. Methods: LabOS is written in "G" under LabVIEW-RT(r). The LabOS Console runs under Mac OS X, Windows or Linux. The LabOS Server & Controller run under Ardence PharLap ETS(r) on any National Instruments(TM) real-time hardware target, including PXI chassis, PCI boards, and some desktop PCs. Public Health Relevance: Acquisition of well-controlled, experimental data defines empirical science, and yet, available DAQ&C systems are incapable of supporting complex experiments, require ongoing programmer support, or support only specialized, popular paradigms. A DAQ&C system providing the power and flexibility to perform innovative biomedical experiments would be of great scientific and fiscal value.