title: Blu-Ice and the Distributed Control System: software for data acquisition and instrument control at macromolecular crystallography beamlines.
abstract: The Blu-Ice and Distributed Control System (DCS) software packages were developed to provide unified control over the disparate hardware resources available at a macromolecular crystallography beamline. Blu-Ice is a user interface that provides scientific experimenters and beamline support staff with intuitive graphical tools for collecting diffraction data and configuring beamlines for experiments. Blu-Ice communicates with the hardware at a beamline via DCS, an instrument-control and data-acquisition package designed to integrate hardware resources in a highly heterogeneous networked computing environment. Together, Blu-Ice and DCS provide a flexible platform for increasing the ease of use, the level of automation and the remote accessibility of beamlines. Blu-Ice and DCS are currently installed on four Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory crystallographic beamlines and are being implemented at sister light sources.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, MS 69, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: McPhillips
authors.forename: Scott E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: McPhillips
authors.forename: Hsiu-Ju
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Aina E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Ashley M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Deacon
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Elspeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garman
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Nicholas K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Sauter
authors.forename: R Paul
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Phizackerley
authors.forename: S Michael
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Soltis
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kuhn
mesh_terms: D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D006801:Humans; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances