ABSTRACT
An automatic data-collection system has been implemented and installed on seven insertion-device beamlines and a bending-magnet beamline at the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) as part of the SPINE (Structural Proteomics In Europe) development of an automated structure-determination pipeline. The system allows remote interaction with beamline-control systems and automatic sample mounting, alignment, characterization, data collection and processing. Reports of all actions taken are available for inspection via database modules and web services.
Subject(s)
Genes/genetics , Synchrotrons/statistics & numerical data , Data Collection/methods , Information Management , Molecular Structure , Quality Control , SoftwareABSTRACT
With modern detectors and synchrotron sources, it is now routine to collect complete data sets in 10-30 min. To make the most efficient use of these resources, it is desirable to automate the collection and processing of the diffraction data, ideally to a level at which multiple data sets can be acquired without any intervention. A scheme is described to allow fully automated data collection and processing. The design is modular, so that it can easily be interfaced with different beamline-control programs and different data-processing programs. An expert system provides a communication path between the data-processing software and the beamline-control software and takes decisions about the data collection based on project information provided by the user and experimental data provided by the data-processing program.
