Thorlabs-Elliptec-Motorized-Stages 1.0.0

Python wrappers for Thorlabs Elliptec ELLx modules on a shared serial bus.

Thorlabs Elliptec Motorized Stages

Python wrappers for Thorlabs Elliptec ELLx modules, organized by device family and built on a shared serial-bus architecture.

This project provides:

• a shared RS-232 transport layer (ElliptecBus)
• common protocol/motion mixins (ElliptecBase)
• device-family APIs for rotary, linear, slider, and iris modules
• a practical bench test script for ELL16 (ell16_bench_test.py)

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Project Structure

• ElliptecBus/
  • elliptec_bus.py: low-level bus I/O, packet parsing, address handling, status checks
  • elliptec_models.py: DeviceInfo and MotorInfo data models
• ElliptecBase/
  • elliptec_base.py: shared parsing helpers and base mixins used by all families
• ElliptecRotaryStages/
  • ELL14.py, ELL16.py, ELL18.py, ELL21.py, rotary_base.py
• ElliptecLinearStages/
  • ELL17.py, ELL20.py, linear_base.py
• ElliptecMultiPositionSlider/
  • ELL6.py, ELL6B.py, ELL9.py, ELL12.py, slider_base.py
• ElliptecMotorized_IRIS/
  • ELL15.py, ELL15Z.py, iris_base.py
• ell16_bench_test.py: CLI smoke test for ELL16

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Supported Device Groups

Rotary

• Ell14
• Ell16
• Ell18
• Ell21

Linear

• Ell17
• Ell20

Multi-Position Slider

• Ell6
• Ell6B
• Ell9
• Ell12

Iris

• Ell15
• Ell15Z

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Communication protocol

For the complete communication protocol covering all Thorlabs ELLx models, see the official Thorlabs manual:

• ELLx Modules Protocol Manual (PDF)

Documentation:

https://thorlabs-elliptec-motorized-stages.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

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Requirements

• Python 3.9+ recommended
• pyserial

Install runtime dependency:

pip install pyserial

Quick Start

1) Connect to a bus

from ElliptecBus.elliptec_bus import ElliptecBus
from ElliptecRotaryStages.ELL16 import Ell16

with ElliptecBus("COM18") as bus:
    stage = Ell16(bus, address="0")
    print(stage.get_info())
    print(stage.get_status())
    print(stage.get_position_degrees())

2) Typical motion calls

with ElliptecBus("COM18") as bus:
    stage = Ell16(bus, address="0")
    stage.home(direction="cw")
    stage.move_absolute_degrees(90.0)
    stage.set_jog_step_degrees(5.0)
    stage.jog_forward()

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Bench Validation Script (ELL16)

Use the included test helper:

python ell16_bench_test.py COM18
python ell16_bench_test.py COM18 --home --move 90
python ell16_bench_test.py COM18 --jog-forward 5
python ell16_bench_test.py COM18 --jog-backward 2

Useful options:

• --address (default 0)
• --motion-timeout
• --auto-validate-model

On Windows, find your COM port in Device Manager (Ports (COM & LPT)).

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Addressing and Bus Behavior

• Elliptec device addresses are hexadecimal: 0 to F.
• One serial bus can host multiple modules on different addresses.
• The wrappers are designed for addressed communication over one shared bus object.

Error Handling

Core exceptions from ElliptecBus:

• ElliptecError: base exception
• ElliptecTimeoutError: no response in time
• ElliptecProtocolError: malformed/unexpected packet
• ElliptecDeviceError: non-zero GS status code returned by device

STATUS_MESSAGES maps known GS codes to human-readable descriptions.

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Documentation (Sphinx / Read the Docs)

Sphinx docs are included in docs/ and configured via:

• .readthedocs.yaml
• requirements-docs.txt
• docs/conf.py
• docs/index.rst
• docs/api.rst

Local docs build:

pip install -r requirements-docs.txt
python -m sphinx -b html docs docs/_build/html

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License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

See the LICENSE file for full terms.

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Notes

• This project focuses on command/control protocol behavior for ELLx modules.
• Always verify device model/address before issuing motion commands on shared buses.
• For production integrations, consider adding application-level retries, logging, and safety interlocks.