title: Implementation of remote monitoring and diffraction evaluation systems at the Photon Factory macromolecular crystallography beamlines.
abstract: Owing to recent advances in high-throughput technology in macromolecular crystallography beamlines, such as high-brilliant X-ray sources, high-speed readout detectors and robotics, the number of samples that can be examined in a single visit to the beamline has increased dramatically. In order to make these experiments more efficient, two functions, remote monitoring and diffraction image evaluation, have been implemented in the macromolecular crystallography beamlines at the Photon Factory (PF). Remote monitoring allows scientists to participate in the experiment by watching from their laboratories, without having to come to the beamline. Diffraction image evaluation makes experiments easier, especially when using the sample exchange robot. To implement these two functions, two independent clients have been developed that work specifically for remote monitoring and diffraction image evaluation. In the macromolecular crystallography beamlines at PF, beamline control is performed using STARS (simple transmission and retrieval system). The system adopts a client-server style in which client programs communicate with each other through a server process using the STARS protocol. This is an advantage of the extension of the system; implementation of these new functions required few modifications of the existing system.
authors.affiliation: Structural Biology Research Center, Photon Factory, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan. yusuke.yamada@kek.jp
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Phonda
authors.forename: Naohiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsugaki
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiraki
authors.forename: Soichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wakatsuki
mesh_terms: D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray / Q000379:methods*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry*; D017785:Photons
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances