TOWARD A STANDARD FOR REMOTE MICROSCOPE CONTROL-SYSTEMS

Remote access to scientific instruments provides a way to share a vari ety of valuable resources with a worldwide audience. By pooling these resources and providing a common network and user interfaces to these resources, science researchers and educators will have capabilities th at no one institution could afford. The Microscope And Graphic Imaging Center (MAGIC) at California State University, Hayward (CSU Hayward) is developing a model for such a system. We are developing model softw are for interactive remote-shared access to an unmodified Philips XL 4 0 scanning electron microscope (SEM). Located within the Department of Biological Sciences, MAGIC provides facilities and expertise in speci men preparation as well as providing remote access to researchers and educators over the Internet. We have used a wide range of networking t echnologies, including modem, ISDN, Ethernet, T1, and ATM to control t he SEM, and a wide range of image transmission technologies, including closed circuit TV, compressed video over ATM, and digital imaging (Sm ith et al. 1996a,b,c). We have taken a modular approach to software co ntrol which allows us to arrange key pieces in a variety of ways on a number of different platforms. Results indicate that under the correct conditions, access to expensive and sensitive commercially available scientific equipment can be shared by large research, educational, and industrial communities. However, care must be taken to address issues of security, robustness, and performance. Plans are to incorporate re mote access into university, community college, and high school use st arting in 1998. Based upon this experience, we propose a framework for standardizing remote access to visual scientific equipment. This fram ework consists of three layers: (1) clients, (2) servers, and (3) inst ruments. This approach will allow a wide variety of equipment to be sh ared in a flexible and uniform manner.