SmarAct positioners¶

SmarAct has multiple different controller covering different slider kinds. So far only simple controllers (CU/HCU/SCU) are implemented.

SmarAct CU/HCU/SCU¶

This is a simple controller, which is mostly aimed at open-loop (i.e., no position readout) positioners. It can control up to 3 axes, and connects to the PC via the USB port.

The device class is pylablib.devices.SmarAct.SCU3D. Currently only open-loop controllers are supported.

Software requirements¶

The controller shows up as a virtual COM port, and it has a standard FTDI chip, so it does not need any special drivers. However, to communicate with the device, it still needs SCU3DControl.dll library. It is supplied on a CD together with the device, although it might also be possible to request it from SmarAct.

Connection¶

The devices are identified by their index starting from 0. To get the list of all the connected devices, you can use SmarAct.list_scu_devices:

>> from pylablib.devices import SmarAct
>> SmarAct.list_scu_devices()
[TDeviceInfo(device_id=0, firmware_version='1.3.0.0', dll_version='4.3.0.0')]
>> stage = SmarAct.SCU3D(idx=0)  # connect to the first device in the list
>> stage.close()

Due to the manufacturer’s API organization, it is currently only possible to “reserve” all connected stages of the same type simultaneously in one application. This means that no other application can connect to any of the stages as long as at least one stage is being controlled (though it does not make any difference if only one stage is connected).

In addition, currently there is no check on whether the stage is already controlled in the other part of the code. This is in contrast with the vast majority of the devices, which issue a unique handle making it impossible to create two different device objects even within the same application. Hence, one needs to be careful to not connect to the same device twice, which can lead to confusing behavior.

Operation¶

This controller has several features and differences compared to most other stages and sliders:

The motion is generally executed in “macrosteps”, which is a sequence of several “microsteps” with a given amplitude, frequency, and number. A single macrostep with the defined parameters can be performed with SCU3D.move_macrostep(), while SCU3D.move_by() executes a series of these macrosteps with one of the predefined sizes (from 0 to 20). These sizes are configured to roughly correspond to the step sizes selectable by the controller, although the agreement is not exact.