Data Acquisition

A Python modular interface to connect different instruments together and automatize data acquisition

About the Project
- Built With
Getting Started
- Installation
Usage
Credits
License

About The Project

Built With

The software is built with Python, Tkinter, and it uses the NI-VISA and py-visa libraries for certain instruments.

Getting Started

The software has been tested with Python 3.8.5 on Windows 10. It should work on other operating systems as well. To install, clone the repo (or simply download the whole code) anywhere on your computer.

Installation

Check that the Python version is > 3.8.5 (The software might work with other versions)
Make sure that tkinter is installed (pip install tkinter)
Install numpy (pip install numpy)
Install matplotlib>3.3.1 (pip install matplotlib>3.3.1)

Different intruments will require different additional libraries. Many instruments (e.g. the Tektronik scope and the Thorlabs powermeter) work with the pyvisa library. Install pyvisa (pip install pyvisa)

Thorlabs powermeter

The Thorlabs powermeter does not require any additional library apart from pyvisa!

Tektronix scope

The Tektronix scope requires the pyvisa library, and it is necessary to install also the NI-VISA library from https://www.ni.com/en-us/support/downloads/drivers/download.ni-visa.html#346210. IMPORTANT: the library TEKVisa might generate conflicts with the library pyvisa. Before proceeding with installation, make sure you uninstall any version of TEKVisa. Usually this library gets installed together with the OpenChoice software from Tektronix.

Ophir powermeter

The ophir powermeter does not work with the pyvisa library, the communication is instead provided through the pywin32 library. Install via pip install pywin32. Note: The ophir powermeter also needs to be enabled for USB communication, which might require buying as serial code from Ophir.

Usage

A .json file is used to specify the software settings. In this file we can specify how many and which instruments to connect to the software, which data to extract from each instrument, which plots to show, etc. One can create different .json files corresponding to different interfaces (see the directory "Examples .json files" for some example) An example of .json configuration file is

{
  "deviceNames": [ "scopeTektronix", "powermeterThorlabs", "powermeterOphir" ],

  "WhichInstrumentActsAsClock": 0,

  "deviceDataToAcquire": [
    [ "MaxCH1", "MaxCH2", "AvgCH1", "AvgCH2", "IntCH1", "IntCH2", "Pk2PkCH1", "Pk2PkCH2", "MaxCH1/MaxCH2", "AvgCH1/AvgCH2", "IntCH1/IntCH2", "Pk2PkCH1/Pk2PkCH2" ],
    [ "Power" ],
    [ "Power" ]
  ],

  "PlotsConfig": [
    0,
    [ "Dev1_Power", "Dev0_Pk2PkCH1", "Dev0_Pk2PkCH2" ],
    [ "Dev1_Power", "Dev0_Pk2PkCH1/Pk2PkCH2" ]
  ],

  "PlotsSizes": [
    [ 8, 8 ],
    [ 8, 8 ],
    [ 8, 8 ]
  ],

  "NCols": 3,

  "DataPlottingStyle": [
    {
      "color": "yellow",
      "linewidth": 2,
      "marker": "o"
    },
    {
      "color": "blue",
      "linewidth": 2,
      "marker": "o"
    },
    {
      "color": "yellow",
      "linewidth": 2,
      "marker": "D",
      "linestyle": "-."
    },
   ....
  ]

}

Once a .json file has been created, the software can be started with command line

python "Path\To\DataAcquisition\DataAcquisition.pyw" "Path\To\jsonFile\FileName.json"

Credits

I learnt several commands and procedures related to VISA & oscilloscope by reading the code of PyTektronixScope (https://github.com/clade/PyTektronixScope). The class ConsoleText, which allows to redirect the console output to a Tkinter text widget, is taken from this post https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2914603/segmentation-fault-while-redirecting-sys-stdout-to-tkinter-text-widget.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

MicheleCotrufo/DataAcquisition