Active members can contribute in the definition of the standard and have early access to the work results of all other SiLA workgroups. Therefore an early adoption of the standard in
their products can be reached, which qualifies for participation in “Pilot Projects”. Networking & Cooperation with other SiLA Members or even a cooperation in research and proof of concept projects are other benefits a SiLA member can get.
For more information please download the PDF SiLA Consortium flyer 2012

H. Bär and U. Syré                                         Published as poster on MipTec 2011
infoteam Software AG

In general a laboratory consists of medical devices for sample preparation and analysis. They are controlled by a central Process Management System (PMS). Standardisation in Lab Automation (SiLA) is an initiative that started 2009 to specify a standard communication protocol based on Ethernet between PMS and devices. Several companies are already realizing the standard.

We want to support these efforts by a software library we created. It allows the user to rapidly integrate SiLA devices at runtime. Besides of discovery, which gains importance with the use of Ethernet, the library supports the execution of the command set that is provided by the devices.

The Figure shows that the library contains a factory. It can create instances of the class Device, which is a proxy class to control a device. It has a request handler that can send web service messages by means of the SoapBuilder. Additionally the RequestHandler registers the request ID, which is used to associate SiLA events to command calls. Such events are handled by the HttpWorker and forwarded over the Factory to the RequestManager. This has a list of devices available and can call an according method in the correct instance of Device.

We used our library already in different projects. Besides of customer projects we built a setup for fairs to show usages of our library, such as the control of a Thermo Fisher Multidrop on the MipTec 2009. To access the device via SiLA a converter box was used. With the user interface on a PMS only few options could be selected. These were a local reset of the dispenser, it could be primed and it allowed dispensing and shaking. This little demonstration shows that commands can be sent with our library over SiLA.

Currently we are investigating whether a distributed laboratory control can be built up. We assume that a central PMS is not necessary, integrators are only used to it. This kind of setup came up based on interfaces, such as RS232 or USB. Using SiLA with Ethernet as communication interface, distributed control can be put in place.

Published in Journal Laboratory Automation Volume 16, Issue 5 , Pages 371-376, October 2011 (http://jla.sagepub.com/content/16/5/371.full.pdf+html)

Abstract:
This article describes device integration with an emerging standard in laboratory automation. The architecture of a library is described, which offers smart adaptation to the standard and a smooth integration into a laboratory automation environment. The library has a plugin interface to allow making any device standard compliant. It allows the use on embedded hardware, and it supports its use with different programming languages. With a tiny starter application, the library can be used as a stand-alone application, and it can be started out of an existing device controller.