PyMeasure 0.2

Measurement library for instrument communication, procedure execution, and live-plotting

PyMeasure

PyMeasure makes measurements easy to set up and run. The package is composed of two parts: (1) a repository of instruments classes that make communicating and taking data easy, and (2) a system for running experiment procedures and graphing their data live.

PyMeasure is currently under active development, so please report any issues you experience to our Issues page.

Getting started

Check out the documentation for a tutorial on getting started.

There are a number of examples in the examples directory that can help you get up and running.

Requirements

PyMeasure is a Python 3+ library, and does not support Python 2. This is a deliberate move to switch code over to the new conventions, and remove the extra work of back-porting functionality.

PyMeasure builds on the success of two key Python packages.

Numpy - Numerical Python, which handles large data sets efficiently

Pandas - An extension of Numpy that simplifies data management

There are a number of other packages that are required for specific functionality.

For communicating with VISA instruments, the PyVISA package is required. PySerial is used for basic serial communication.

PyVISA - VISA instrument communication library

PySerial - Serial communication library

The live-plotting and user-interfaces require either PyQt4 or PySide, in combination with PyQtGraph.

PyQt4 - Cross-platform Qt library for graphical user interfaces

PySide - Alternative to PyQt4, licensed appropriately for commercial use

PyQtGraph - Efficient live-plotting library

For listening in on the experimental procedure execution through TCP messaging, the PyZMQ and MsgPack-Numpy libraries are required. This is not necessary for general use.

PyZMQ - Message communication library

MsgPack Numpy - Compresses messages and handles Numpy arrays

Install:

Get the latest release from GitHub or install via the Python pip installer:

pip install pymeasure