You will need a copy of the EC-Lab(R) Development package from https://www.biologic.net/support-software/ec-lab-oem-development-package/ to build and use this software. This vendor package is only available for Windows, so this IOC can only be built and runs on Microsoft Windows.
The ECLABSDK macro in ECLabApp/src/Makefile will then need to be changed to point to the installation location of the above developer package
Besides EPICS BASE, the ASYN module is also needed and its location must be added to configure/RELEASE
Other EPICS modules are optional as decribed in the comments.
Note that the EC-Lab(R) Development package will download firmware to the potentiostat that is compatible with the EC-Lab Exrpess software rather than the full EC-Lab software. It is thus not possible to have the full EC-Lab software and the IOC communicating with the potentiostat at the same time. It is possible to have both the EC-Lab Express and IOC communicating with the potentiostat simultaneously, but coordination is required into which piece of software uploads techniques and downloads data.
Though not all techniques in the full software package are directly available via the developer/express software, some of these missing techniques are ways to manage combinations/sequences of other techniques and so can be achieved using these base techniques and scripting. For example Galvanostatic Cycling with Potential Limitation (GCPL) is not directly supported, but can be emulated via a combination of CP, CA and OCV. Similary Modulo Bat (MB) is a sequence of operations that can likely also be emulated by the same approach.
The system is configured by specifying parameters for techniques via process variables, see the *.substitutions files in https://github.com/ISISComputingGroup/EPICS-ECLab/tree/master/ECLabApp/Db
for how these are set up for different techniques. The PARAM column defines a part of a process variale name, which corresponds to a EcLab parameter name (LABEL) as specified in the
ECLab developer manual for the particular technique. The biologic GUI software and developer library sometimes store parameters differently e.g separate values on the GUI may
be specified via an array - see the developer library documentation for the technique for the convention used.
Each technique has its own set of parameters and internal data format, so the software may not currently handle the technique you require. It is not too hard to add another, feel free to contact us.
An example of simple usage is in test_ocv.bat, see also sp240.py
The basic principle is:
- Set a filename prefix for data (written in csv format)
- Set parameters for each technique
- Write list of techniques names to use to
LOADTECHpv - this defines the order techniques are run in (if multiple techniques are listed) - Write to the
STARTpv
To set the record every dE parameter for the CV technique you would set the <prefix>:C0:T:CV:0:REDE:SP
process variable before loading the technique onto the potentiostat (via LOADTECH pv). The :C0: in the name is for channel 0 of the potentiostat,
the second :0: means this value is to be used for the first instance of that named technique.
Contact freddie.akeroyd@stfc.ac.uk for further details