ACD submits proposal for OMG LECIS standard
The lack of acceptable standards for instrument communication protocols has
obstructed attempts to provide bidirectional communications with laboratory
devices and enable tighter integration and more advanced automation. While
suitable hardware standards (RS232, IEEE488, TCP/IP, etc.) exist, software
protocols for enabling a full range of communications with laboratory
devices do not, and this has for many years limited the scope of integration
of laboratory instruments with laboratory automation software such as LIMS.
As part of an ongoing commitment to the goals of the Lifesciences Subgroup
of the OMG (www.omg.org/lsr), and as part of its own Global Solutions
intitiative, Advanced Chemistry Development has submitted an initial
proposal which defines an architecture for controlling and acquiring data
from laboratory instruments utilizing the LECIS protocol. The final standard
will be ratified during the summer of 2001, and will signal the end of the
era of unidirectional communication between laboratory instruments and
automation software systems. The full proposal can be found at the OMG
Website at http://cgi.omg.org/cgi-bin/doc?lifesci/01-01-02
|
