Design of a very versatile software program for automating analytical methods

Abstract

The present article proposes the design of a hardware-independent system for automating various analytical methods. System design is based on the division of the software into four layers, defining a communications interface among them. The definition of these layers allows the isolation of the highest, corresponding to the analytical application, from the lowest, the hardware, composed of the various parts of the block diagram.

Although this system was initially designed for automating flow techniques (flow-injection analysis, FIA, and sequential-injection analysis, SIA), its conception allows the development of much more general applications, depending on the user's imagination.

The system is very open, in the sense that it is not necessary to adapt the program as system possibilities are expanded. Thus, if new instrumentation (modules in the block diagram) is incorporated, one need only develop independently a minimum of software to comply with the previously defined interface.

This system has been developed under the 32-bit Windows 95 environment, making the exchange of information with other applications very simple and allowing the various possibilities offered by the program to be executed simultaneously (for example, data acquisition and processing). © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Lab Robotics and Automation 11: 131–140, 1999