Standardization in Lab Automation: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:57, 18 September 2011

Revision as of 19:05, 21 September 2011

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=SiLA Consortium=

The '''SiLA consortium''' is a [[Non-profit_organizationprofit organization|not-for-profit]] membership organization formed by software suppliers, system integrators and pharma/biotec corporations. This consortium for '''Standardization in Lab Automation''' (SiLA), develops and introduces new device and data interface standards allowing rapid integration of lab [[automation|Automation]] hardware and data management systems. Highly skilled experts of member companies contribute in SiLA′s technical work groups. Membership is open for institutions, corporations and individuals active in the life science lab automation industry. The SiLA consortium provides professional training, support and certification services to suppliers and system integrators implementing SiLA compliant interfaces.

==Mission==

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Such technical obstacles also limit the complexity of '''integrated laboratory robotic platforms''', and thereby impede the development of higher level autonomous experimentation systems.

SiLA enables researchers to focus on their scientific questions by reducing equipment connectivity effort to a minimum. This is achieved by using proven, tested and maintained documentation and code.

==History==

Advancements seen on the home consumer electronics marked like [[USB]] or [[UPnP]] triggered the idea of applying a similar approach to the laboratory automation environment. Why was it possible to easily upload pictures from any digital camera on any computer but in the same time not even thinkable to replace a lab device (e.g.: a [[Shaker_Shaker (laboratory)|Shaker]]) of one brand with a Shaker of a different brand? Analyzing the situation led to the conclusion that the incompatibility was a result of missing interface definitions. The idea of a standardized interface based on the '''Common Command Set''' (CCS) concept was born.

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=Membership=

SiLA has formed a '''not-for-profit membership organisation'''. SiLA requires members to pay annual membership dues. Details on membership classes and related fees can be found [http://www.sila.coop/about-sila/members/sila-membership-classes/ here].

=Organisation Structure=

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SiLA is a not-for-profit membership corporation with global footprint. Membership is open for institutions, corporations and individuals active in the life science lab automation industry.

The SiLA consortium provides professional training, support and certification services to suppliers and system integrators implementing SiLA compliant interfaces.

=References=

1. White Paper on Academic SiLA Membership Benefits

<Tech notes to be added or link to SiLA home page>

=Scope of Standardization=

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By grouping devices of the same functionality device classes can be created. SiLA Common Command Sets define commands for these device classes. SiLA defines the command names, the number of parameters and their names as well as the return data. Since commands and parameters are described in the WSDL documentation tag of the commands web service, a process management software (PMS) can automatically generate a list available commands for each device.

So far SiLA has defined about 30 device classes and a command library with about 100 commands. Commands range from mandatory commands that are needed to make transitions in the state machine, over required commands for the specific device class, to optional commands for which not every device in the device class might provide the functionality. In addition guidelines for the implementation of supplier-specific device commands and parameters are provided.

Some commands are applicable for almost every device class. For example the commands SetParameter, GetParameter, ExecuteMethod are widely used. Also PrepareForOutput and PrepareForInput are common because they enable the transport mechanisms to transfer labware items from device to device. The mandatory commands include operations like Reset, Initialize, Abort and Pause. In addition also locking a device for exclusive use is provided.

=External links=

* [http://www.sila.coop/ SiLA homepage]<br />

{{Uncategorized|date=September 2011}}