pylablib-lightweight

Overview

.. image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.7324875.svg :target: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7324875

PyLabLib aims to provide support for device control and experiment automation. It interfaces with lots of different of devices <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/devices_root.html>, including several different camera interfaces <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/cameras_root.html>, translational stages <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/stages_root.html>, oscilloscopes <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/Tektronix.html>, AWGs <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/generic_awgs.html>, sensors <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/basic_sensors_root.html>, and more. The interface is implemented in a natural way through Python objects, and is easy to understand. For example, here is a complete script which steps Thorlabs KDC101 stage by 10000 steps ten times, and each time grabs a frame with Andor iXon camera:

.. code-block:: python

from pylablib.devices import Thorlabs, Andor  # import the device libraries
import numpy as np  # import numpy for saving

# connect to the devices
with Thorlabs.KinesisMotor("27000000") as stage, Andor.AndorSDK2Camera() as cam:
    # change some camera parameters
    cam.set_exposure(50E-3)
    cam.set_roi(0, 128, 0, 128, hbin=2, vbin=2)
    # start the stepping loop
    images = []
    for _ in range(10):
        stage.move_by(10000)  # initiate a move
        stage.wait_move()  # wait until it's done
        img = cam.snap()  # grab a single frame
        images.append(img)

np.array(images).astype("<u2").tofile("frames.bin")  # save frames as raw binary

The list of the devices is constantly expanding.

Additional utilities are added to simplify data acquisition, storage, and processing:

• Simplified data processing utilities: convenient fitting <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/dataproc.html#fitting>, filtering <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/dataproc.html#filtering-and-decimation>, feature detection <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/dataproc.html#feature-detection>, FFT <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/dataproc.html#fourier-transform> (mostly wrappers around NumPy and SciPy).
• Universal multi-level dictionaries <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage.html#multi-level-dictionary>__ which are convenient for storing <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/storage.html#dictionary-files>__ heterogeneous data and settings in human-readable format.
• Assorted functions for dealing with file system <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/misc_utils.html#file-system>__ (creating, moving and removing folders, zipping/unzipping, path normalization), network <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/misc_utils.html#network>__ (simplified interface for client and server sockets), strings <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/misc_utils.html#strings>__ (conversion of various Python objects to and from string), and more.

The most recent version of the library is available on GitHub (https://github.com/AlexShkarin/pyLabLib), and the documentation can be found at https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/ .

Requirements

• Python 3 (tested with 3.6+)
• Most extensively tested with Windows 10 and 64-bit Python. Linux is, in principle, supported, but devices which require manufacturer-provided DLLs (mostly cameras) might, potentially, have problems.
• Basic version only needs numpy, SciPy and pandas. Advanced device communication packages (such as PyVISA <https://pyvisa.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>_ and pySerial <https://pythonhosted.org/pyserial/>_) are automatically installed, but can be avoided if necessary.
• Some devices might require additional software <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/devices/devices_basics.html#dependencies-and-external-software>__. If this is the case, the requirements are mentioned on the corresponding page.

Installation

You can install the library from PyPi::

pip install pylablib

More options are described in the documentation <https://pylablib.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html>__.

Related projects

Pylablib cam-control <https://github.com/AlexShkarin/pylablib-cam-control>__ - software for universal camera control and frames acquisition.