SDU - software for high-throughput automated data collection at the Swiss Light Source

Recent advances in automation have fostered the development of unattended data collection services at a handful of synchrotron facilities worldwide. At the Swiss Light Source, the installation of new high-throughput sample changers at all three macromolecular crystallography beamlines and the commissioning of the Fast Fragment and Compound Screening pipeline created a unique opportunity to automate data acquisition. Here, the DA+ microservice software stack upgrades, implementation of an automatic loop-centering service and deployment of the Smart Digital User (SDU) software for unattended data collection are reported. The SDU software is the decision-making software responsible for communications between services, sample and device safety, sample centering, sample alignment with grid based X-ray diffraction and, finally, data collection.

Automated summary

Recent advances in automation have enabled the development of unattended data collection services in several synchrotron facilities globally. This paper focuses on the Swiss Light Source, where the implementation of new high-throughput sample changers and the commissioning of the Fast Fragment and Compound Screening pipeline provided an opportunity for automated data acquisition. The paper discusses the upgrades in the DA+ microservice software stack, the automatic loop-centering service, and the deployment of the Smart Digital User (SDU) software for unattended data collection. The SDU software plays a crucial role in communication between services, ensuring sample and device safety, sample centering, alignment with grid-based X-ray diffraction, and ultimately, data collection.