newportxps 2026.1.1

Python interface to Newport XPS motion controllers

newportxps

This module provides code for using Newport XPS motor controllers from Python.

While Newport Corp. has provided a basic socket and ftp interface to the XPS controller for a long time, this interface is very low-level. In addition, there are some incompatibilities between the different generations of XPS controllers (generations C, Q, D in that chronological order), and a lack of support for Python 3 in the Newport-provided interface. The newportxps module here aims to provide a simple, user-friendly interface for the Newport XPS that works uniformly for all three generations of XPS and for both Python 2 and 3.

As an example, connecting to and reading the status of an XPS controller may look like this:

 >>> from newportxps import NewportXPS
 >>> xps = NewportXPS('164.54.160.000', username='Administrator', password='Please.Let.Me.In')
 >>> print(xps.status_report())
 # XPS host:         164.54.160.000 (164.54.160.000)
 # Firmware:         XPS-D-N13006
 # Current Time:     Sun Sep 16 13:40:24 2018
 # Last Reboot:      Wed Sep 12 14:46:44 2018
 # Trajectory Group: None
 # Groups and Stages
 DetectorZ (SingleAxisInUse), Status: Ready state from motion
    DetectorZ.Pos (ILS@ILS150CC@XPS-DRV11)
       Hardware Status: First driver powered on - ZM low level
       Positioner Errors: OK
 SampleX (SingleAxisInUse), Status: Ready state from motion
    SampleX.Pos (UTS@UTS150PP@XPS-DRV11)
       Hardware Status: First driver powered on - ZM high level
       Positioner Errors: OK
 SampleY (SingleAxisInUse), Status: Ready state from motion
    SampleY.Pos (UTS@UTS150PP@XPS-DRV11)
       Hardware Status: First driver powered on - ZM high level
       Positioner Errors: OK
 SampleZ (SingleAxisInUse), Status: Ready state from motion
   SampleZ.Pos (UTS@UTS150PP@XPS-DRV11)
       Hardware Status: First driver powered on - ZM low level
       Positioner Errors: OK

 >>> for gname, info in xps.groups.items():
 ...     print(gname, info)
 ...
 DetectorX {'category': 'SingleAxisInUse', 'positioners': ['Pos']}
 SampleX {'category': 'SingleAxisInUse', 'positioners': ['Pos']}
 SampleY {'category': 'SingleAxisInUse', 'positioners': ['Pos']}
 SampleZ {'category': 'SingleAxisInUse', 'positioners': ['Pos']}
 >>>
 >>> for sname, info in xps.stages.items():
 ...     print(sname, xps.get_stage_position(sname), info)
 ...
 DetectorX.Pos 36.5 {'type': 'ILS@ILS150CC@XPS-DRV11', 'max_velo': 100, 'max_accel': 400, 'low_limit': -74, 'high_limit': 74}
 SampleX.Pos 1.05 {'type': 'UTS@UTS150PP@XPS-DRV11', 'max_velo': 20, 'max_accel': 80, 'low_limit': -74, 'high_limit': 74}
 SampleY.Pos 0.24 {'type': 'UTS@UTS150PP@XPS-DRV11', 'max_velo': 20, 'max_accel': 80, 'low_limit': -74, 'high_limit': 74}
 SampleZ.Pos 2.5 {'type': 'UTS@UTS150PP@XPS-DRV11', 'max_velo': 20, 'max_accel': 80, 'low_limit': -74, 'high_limit': 74}

 >>> xps.move_stage('SampleZ.Pos', 1.0)

 >>> xps.home_group('DetectorX')

On creation and initialization of the NewportXPS, the Groups and status of the controller are read in and Stages defined so that they can be queried or moved.

The NewportXPS class has a number of methods to interact with the controller including:

• reboot controller
• get status, hardware errors, etc.
• save and upload new system.ini and stages.ini files.
• enable and disable Groups.
• initialize and home Stages and Groups of Stages.
• read Stage positions.
• move Stages and Groups to new positions.
• set Stage velocity.
• define simple linear trajectories (using PVT mode), both 'forward' and 'backward'.
• upload any PVT trajectory.
• arm PVT trajectory.
• run PVT trajectory.
• read and save Gathering file for a trajectory.