Device Control

The Device Control tab (owners/admins only) lets you inspect and change the settings of the experiment's µLoggers in real time. Once you have adjusted the settings for your experiment and zero'ed your culture tubes (see Quick actions), it's time to start your experiment in the Experiment Configuration.

Selecting µLoggers

The left sidebar shows the µLoggers under the control of this experiment. Select the µLogger(s) you want to work with; use the buttons above the table to refresh the list, select/deselect all, or adjust which µLogger info columns are shown.

Data structures

The main Data structures table shows the selected µLoggers' settings. Use Request latest data to pull the current values from the µLoggers (only works for those that are online). You can browse the available settings, search them, and edit as you see fit. Please consult the extensive documentation for this GUI component on help with editing settings, sending commands, adjusting publishing behaviour etc.

Tip

• for the most commonly used operations, take a look at the Quick Actions below
• for a full description of everything that can be adjusted on a µLogger through this tree, see the µLogger SDDS structure tree (OD reader, stirrer, illumination, etc.)
• for a description of all settings shared by all Kopf lab devices including the µLoggers, see the SYSTEM settings (identity, vitals, and recording/publishing)

Quick actions

The Quick actions menu provides most of the one-click shortcuts used for common µLogger operations:

Action	What it does
Zero OD Reader	Zero the optical-density reader.
Change read interval	Change how frequently the optical density is measured.
Change publish interval	Change how frequently the data is recorded (i.e. how long the averaging interval is for OD measurements).
Set Stirring	Opens the Stirring sub-menu (see below) with the stirrer actions.
Set Illumination	Opens the Illumination sub-menu (see below) with the individual light-schedule actions.
Save state	Store the current settings on the device (after a power out, the device will resume with the last saved settings).

Stirring sub-menu

Set Stirring opens a second pop-up with the stirrer actions:

Action	What it does
Start stirring	Start the stirrer.
Stop stirring	Stop the stirrer.
Change speed	Edit the stirrer set-point (rpm).
Stir through OD read	Keep the stirrer running during optical density reads (instead of pausing it for each read). This works well for relatively slow stir speeds that don't create a vortex that interferes with the optical density beam. Make sure to zero with this setting set the same way as during your experiment, otherwise your OD measurements will loose accuracy.
Vortex before OD read	Briefly spin the stirrer up (vortex) before each optical density read. This is important if you do not stir your experiment, otherwise the cells will not be uniformly suspended for the OD read.

Illumination sub-menu

Set Illumination opens a second pop-up with the actions for the µLogger's light schedule:

Action	What it does
Set intensity	Set the light intensity (%).
Set time ON	Set how long the light stays on during each on/off cycle.
Set time OFF	Set how long the light stays off during each on/off cycle.
Set start time	Set the time of day at which the light schedule begins.
Start schedule	Start the on/off light schedule with the configured settings.

Important

• always Zero OD Reader with the exact culture tube used for your experiment before starting the experiment
• always Save state after changing µLogger settings to protect against power outtages
• if you change device settings while an experiment is already recording it may affect your optical density readings

Controls

The Controls menu makes additional information about the µLoggers and their logs accessible:

Control	What it does
Send queue	Check previous commands and (re)send selected commands to the devices.
Show/hide publishing	Show or hide (and edit) the publishing interval of each variable.
Show/hide SYSTEM / HARDWARE	Show or hide the system and hardware sections of the tree.
Fetch cmd logs	Show the recent command history of the selected devices.
Show events	Show the live data events streamed by the selected devices.

Publishing settings

How often each measurement is recorded to the µLogger database can be controlled for each variable/setting individually. Typically, the publish interval (see quick actions) takes care of this setting for all variables. For a full description of the available fine-tuning per-variable publishing options, see the Per-variable publishing section of the sddsParticle documentation.