Experiment Configuration
The Configuration tab (visible to the experiment's owner and to admins) is where you name an experiment, edit its details, link µLoggers, and start/stop recording.
The main area lets you give the experiment a name and a description. Type your text and click the Save button next to each field to store it. Use the Notes field to keep additional information about your experiment.
The Devices table lets you link one/multiple µLoggers to your experiment and give them custom labels. The controls on the right (red rectangle in the screenshot) have the following functions:
- Refresh: reload the linked µLoggers and their status, this is useful if you just powered up your µLoggers and need the GUI to know that they are online (and thus can be interacted with), check the Connected column to see if your devices are online (Last heard from shows when they last made contact)
- Link devices (NOT available while recording): this action lets you add (additional) µLoggers to your experiment - note that if a µLogger is still in use by another experiment/user, you can add it to your experiment but cannot claim control until the other user/experiment is done with it
- Unlink device (NOT available while recording): remove the selected µLogger from the experiment. This is typically only used if a µLogger was added in error. Otherwise you would typically use the Release device action instead.
- Claim device (NOT available while recording): claim a µLogger for exclusive control by your experiment. This happens automatically when you link a µLogger and it is not in use by anyone else. You only need to do this manually if you had to wait for someone else to release control over the µLogger. The Current experiment and Current controller columns in the device table show you which experiments/users control each device. If you want to use them for your experiment, this should be This experiment and You.
- Release device (NOT available whilte recording): release the selected µLogger from the control by your experiment - this frees it up for others to use. This happens automatically for all µLoggers controlled by an experiment when the experiment is completed with the "Finish experiment" action
Additonally, the Devices table allows you to define custom labels for individual µLoggers (e.g. labels such as "ctrl", "+light", "dark", "rep1", "rep2", etc.). Simply click on a µLogger in the table and change its label in the edit box that pops up underneath the table, then click the Save button to update the table. You can change custom labels at any time (even while recording or after an experiment is finished) and the custom labels will subsequently be reflected in the Data Visualization plots for your experiment.
Once you have linked µLoggers to your experiment and gained control over them, jump over to the Device Control to set them up for use in your experiment. Afterwards, it's time to start recording data for your experiment using the actions described below.
The left sidebar shows the experiment's owner and current status, together with the available recording actions (see options and screenshots below):
| Status | Available action | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| not recording, never started | Start recording | Begins the first recording segment; sends recording commands to all µLoggers controlled by this experiment and stores incoming µLogger data with this experiment. |
| not recording, started before | Resume recording | Starts a new recording segment for the experiment. |
| recording | Pause recording | Stops storing data and sends stop recording commands to to all µLoggers controlled by this experiment (the experiment can be resumed later) |
| not recording, already started | Finish experiment | Archives the experiment and releases its µLoggers. No more data can be recorded, but all existing data stays available. The µLoggers can now by used/claimed by the next user/experiment. |
| not recording, not finished | Delete experiment | Permanently removes the experiment and all of its data (USE WITH CARE!). |
