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A Vision Brought to Life In the ever-evolving landscape of microscopy, Starlyte Imaging has emerged as a pioneering force with the introduction of its cutting-edge software solution, Nebula. Designed to address the intricate demands of modern microscopy, Nebula offers a comprehensive suite of tools that enhances imaging capabilities, streamlines workflows, and provides unparalleled precision for researchers and scientists across various fields. As the lead designer behind Nebula, our groundbreaking microscopy imaging software by us at Starlyte Imaging, I'm thrilled to share the story and design features of this project that has been a labor of passion, innovation, and meticulous attention to detail. Nebula isn’t just another software solution—it’s the culmination of countless hours of brainstorming, testing, and refining, all aimed at creating a tool that truly revolutionizes the way researchers interact with and visualize microscopic data. From the outset, our goal with Nebula was clear: to create a software solution that would not only meet the needs of modern microscopy through UI, make a centralized hub to connect your computer to the hardware devices. This vision drove every design decision we made, from the underlying algorithms to the user interface. Designing From the Ground Up Microscopy is a very specific industry, and because of that, it has been a bit stagnant when it comes to creating cutting edge tools that are easy and intuitive to use. The user experience of microscopy of the past have been boot strapped together with duct tape by engineers solving a need. Its long been over due to take a UX approach to microscopy. Lets identify the personas. What we see are two types of users, the scientist and the hardware technician. 1. Scientists:  This persona wants to go to their workstation, set up the rules for acquisition, review the images to see if they captured what they want and then save it to their local or cloud storage to be reviewed in another program like ImageJ. I wanted the UI to be dark, intrusive on the eyes. The scientist should see only the controls for setting up the acquisition order, the pictures coming in and where to save it. 2. Hardware Technician:  This role is the person making sure the computer and the microscope along with all the other components are all talking to each other. Contrary to the scientist persona, the user is given a bright display. The technician would prefer to be in a bright room to examine why the machine isn't working properly or assembling a machine. They want to clearly be able to see the hardware drivers and how they are connected to the host. There should be no confusion whether you are in hardware management or configuration from the image acquisition aspect of Nebula. Key Design Features of Nebula 1. Simple Intuitive Setups : I wanted to create a simeple setup for technicians. By creating and naming a setup, I start assign devices to ports. One click buttons to create a new profile for your hardware. One click buttons for laying out a Host, a drop down for ports and detecting your devices. 2. Visual representation to show devices and how your machine is communicating with those devices: 3. Drag and drop the acquisition order:  One of the most exciting challenges we faced was ensuring that Nebula was going make the acquisition setup to be really easy and simple. Click on the category to open the settings panel and setup which wavelengths. Dragging the category up and down will tell the machine which process to go to next before moving to the next process. Obviously timelapse which is the 4th dimension has to be ordered last. 4. Real-Time Imaging: It was also really important for us to allow the user to see their acquisition as the camera was capturing. This can save the scientist the time of having to wait for the whole process to be done to ensure the subject is in frame. The user can stop the process and start again. 5. Easy capture saves and data management: With the massive amounts of data generated by modern microscopy, we knew that data management had to be seamless and robust. We designed Nebula to integrate effortlessly with cloud storage solutions, ensuring that data is not only secure but also accessible from anywhere. This feature was essential for facilitating collaboration, and we’re excited about how it’s helping researchers work together more effectively. Bringing Innovation to the Lab Working on Nebula has been a journey of constant learning and creativity. As a designer, there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing that the tools you’ve helped create are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Nebula represents a significant leap forward in microscopy imaging, and I’m incredibly excited about the impact it’s going to have on research around the world. Nebula isn’t just a software solution—it’s a testament to what’s possible when you combine cutting-edge technology with a deep understanding of user needs. Every feature, every interface element, and every line of code has been designed with one goal in mind: to empower researchers to make groundbreaking discoveries.

Below is an excellent example of how to integrate the Triggerscope into a novel control system for device control and image capture. Researchers from the Department of Applied Physics and Science for Life Laboratory, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden and Calico Life Sciences LLC demonstrate how Galvo control using the Triggerscope DAC outputs and sequencing can obtain a super resolution image via multi plane light sheet. Amazing work! Read more from the original paper here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11093742/#CR32

Austin Blanco & Garrett Bunch One of the toughest aspects of working as a consultant engineer is that the coolest and most interesting projects are the ones I don’t get to talk about or share online! But as time marches on, sometimes I get to share a few of my secrets. One of those secrets is Zaber. Years back, I needed to find a reasonable cost linear motion system, with integrated motor drive, that provided a well documented library and good customer support. I ended up working with Zaber on that system, and came to rely more and more on their linear and rotary motion products for such systems. As I grew more familiar with these devices, Zaber released a few products into the microscopy industry, starting with an XY stage platform a few years back. Recently, Zaber released an entire microscope system . This microscope provides 3 channel LED excitation for fluorescence, a linear motor Z drive, motorized fluorescent filter cube changer, and XY top plate motorized stage. One of the product engineers was kind enough to ask if I would give this new microscope an eyeball, so I spent some time with one of the younger employees at ARC to see if we could set it on fire or otherwise break it. 🙂 I’m happy to report it survived our abuse, no small feat for a microscope in my shop! Unboxing & Assembly Microscopes typically require a knowledgeable sales rep or service expert to build. As a test of difficulty and complexity for system setup, I decided to assign my relatively new employee Garrett to the build. His report from the build experience was insightful: Overall, the assembly and the initial testing of the microscope was simple and concise. The assembly is pretty easy for a person’s first time building a microscope. The directions were clear and provided great examples of what to look for in terms of parts and what to do. The assembly itself wasn’t too hard as screws were accessible and easy to get to. It was also a little fun seeing the microscope work at the end of the assembly. The whole microscope was packaged in a pelican shipping case, so the parts were well protected. Directions were very concise and provided much detail aligned with picture guidance. The motor locks are very good, they never moved or slid in the slightest during assembly.  Cable management is fairly good, doesn’t get in the way of any moving parts at any time. -Garrett Bunch We also noted some areas for improvement along the way. For our model, the directions for mounting the microscope body and brackets, (5th hole) do not allow enough room for both the motor controller and the LED controller side-by-side as the picture shows. It would need to state at least the 6th or 7th hole. While used in all zaber systems, the the type of male cable connector for the X-DC02 cables were a little tricky to get connected. We had to fiddle with the inside thread on some of the internal drive connectors for a while to get it to connect properly. In summary, while we had the regular amount of small questions, this was quite a straightforward system to build. There are far fewer components on this microscope for the user to assemble than on other systems. It results that the build requires simple tools and techniques, and all of the hard jobs are already done at the factory. First Runs and XYZ performance For our tests, we used a Hamamatsu Orca Flash 4.0 generously loaned to us from Hamamatsu. Connecting the camera to the microscope did demonstrate that cameras with a larger body would have a tough time fitting into the microscope access location on the sensor connection. We brought this to Zaber’s attention and were informed that they offer a riser kit for larger cameras, and can support cameras with large bodies. Camera connection area. Note the LED illuminator cube directly above the camera. Larger bodies will require a riser kit supplied by Zaber for mounting. Motion performance on the system was as expected. The XY stage uses a standard setup of lead screws and stepper motors. The focus/Z drive uses a linear motor, which supports fast operation, high accuracy and repeatability, but at a higher cost of components. I think it was a good decision to use a linear motor with the focus drive, and would love to see Zaber add linear XY to this microscope. The control over the microscope can be performed using an included joystick, the Zaber Console software, or a Micromanager driver. We elected to first configure things in the Zaber Console to confirm proper operation, then to set up MicroManager for automated capture. Micromanager’s driver is a bit confusing to link up between drivers (you have to determine what controller and axis are operating a given function, 3.g. Controller 01 Axis B might == the Filter turret changer). But once things were configured, we had zero communication issues with the driver. Below is a video captured demonstrating the speed on a repeated XY move using MicroManager MDA for control. Config window for Zaber Console. We used MM 2.0 Gamma for our testing. A demonstration of the XY motion can be seen in the video below. This example included large Z moves and multiple channel settings to better visualize the speed of channel switching and Z stepping. Initial samples used were a quite beat up kidney section, to demonstrate typical fluorescence performance. The objective we added to the system was a Zeiss 40x without UV apo correction, so some Z shift in color is apparent. Field illumination gradient was adequate, overall image field to the camera was well covered. This camera is a great tool for such testing as almost the entire 25mm output from the tube lens can be captured. Collection of Z stacks for PSF analysis was straightforward. For these tests we used typical tetra-speck bead sets from Life technologies. What I was interested to look for here were coma or aberrations due to off-axis construction, none of which were observed. The system appears to be stacked up squarely, which was great to see. 40x PSF in Z/X 40x PSF in ZY, note slight angular shift due to my failure to level the stage insert before scanning. To analyze the repeatability of the XY stage, several locations were saved on the bead slide, and then imaged in XYZ using MDA with timelapse. The resulting locations were then projected to produce a single image. Results showed repeatability in all axes within Zaber’s specification. The GIF below shows total drift over several hours. Note the stage is moving away from and re-visiting this location. Z drift from thermal is also evident, but to be expected without an automated focus tracking mechanism. Single location timelapse of beads under 40x magnification. Z stacks captured in a similar manner to the prior experiment demonstrated even better Z performance, due to the employment of a linear motor stage on the focus axis by Zaber. Here, a single section is scanned multiple times in Z. The timelapse of these scans is stacked, so that numerous re-scans on a single set of images represents the same location scanned over time. When projecting this scan orthogonally, variations in Z will be visible. While expecting some linear shift due to thermal, there is almost no “wiggle” in the Z axis, due to the linear motor being so precise. LED Performance To test the LED performance we wanted to target two areas: field illumination performance and linear intensity regulation. Testing both can be somewhat tricky as almost everything will bleach over time. I used the blue isolation region of my bead slide, and it’s white label, to capture 2 multichannel timelapse series. Overall field analysis of each channel was then graphed to demonstrate intensity regulation. While a very small spike was observed in the UV channel, all channels performed considerably well, and it appears intensity regulation is well handled on the drivers for these LEDs. Intensity plot on blue section of Life Tech slide. Channel intensity looks linear. White label region of bead slide. Decay rates for all channels look good, no major deviations caused by LED regulation, aside from a small UV blip at the start. Field uniformity was great for a built-in LED system. This is always something tough to work on in a short-pathway LED excited system. Performance on multiple surfaces looked quite good. Some clipping can be seen at the upper left, due to camera placement. All channels showed this as well as a simple flashlight illuminated above, indicating this was due to my mounting and adjusting of the camera, rather than an excitation-side issue. Blue region of bead slide, pseudo-color spectrum applied to better visualize intensity flatness. Further Observations Zaber added a drop/refocus feature to the microscope, similar to an escape function on a traditional scope. Using the linear motor’s speed, it is quite a fast shift to go from escaped to “in focus”. While this demonstrates the speed of a linear motor system, I would take care as an owner to know if I were “escaped” or just assuming so, for if a sample were placed over the objective, and the system to “return” at such a high rate through the sample, I imagine damage would occur to the sample or objective, or both. At the same time, this demonstrates the capability of such a motor, and slowing motion down in firmware/software is easy, while speeding things up is hard! While Zaber did a great job with the included LED illumination, I can imagine customers would also benefit from using a LLG-coupled or fiber coupled light source. 4 channels is adequate, but many clients need greater diversity in channel selection, and stuffing more than 3 LEDs into an excitation module on-scope can be tricky, so I hope Zaber offers this as an option in the future. The use of a linear motor for Z shows how great this motion method is for fast, reliable positioning. If Zaber were to add an autofocusing system to this axis, it would provide a nice improvement in market applicability for timelapse observations and high speed high magnification scanning. Similarly, the option to purchase a linear-motion XY top plate would be great, for those clients needing high speed scanning of a large region. Summary I really like this microscope. It has the feel of an industrial motion system adapted to an optical platform, which makes sense considering its pedigree. I can imagine that this would make an excellent choice for a plate scanning system, would do well coupled to an incubator, or would be a great fit for commercial clients working on automated analysis of a product, reagent or similar project. The addition of an integrated autofocusing system using reflection would greatly expand the use of this scope into timelapse live-cell work, where it’s shape and design would be a great fit for an incubation enclosure. Customers who would do well with this microscope are those with some technical chops, who also don’t want to hand-build a microscope due to time constraints, or commercial customers who need a no-frills motorized microscope for scanning. As a company, Zaber has always provided great technical support and has a history of building precision motion systems at fair prices, so I would definitely recommend considering this system if you are in the market for an automated microscope. -Austin Blanco & Garrett Bunch (Disclosure) - I was not compensated for writing this review, and my observations and commentary are my own. - AB

There is a constant problem in the microscopy community, which I have stumbled upon too many times to mention, over the last 20 years. An end user purchases a microscope, with “imaging software” included in the purchase. At some time in the future, the user decides to add a new device, or capability, to the instrument. It is here the problem lies, because often times, the user is surprised to learn that this new widget is not “supported” by the software he or she has paid a high sum to own. So – here is a microscope, with well refined commercial software, but no capability to operate the newest or most-applicable hardware. TL:DR Summary ARC has invented a new solution for the problem described, with the Universal Translator. This device can emulate a series of available protocols, communicating with host software, while also communicating with a unsupported device on the back-end. In effect, the device “translates” between supported and unsupported communication protocols, unlocking the use of a wide array of devices for use on existing software platforms. Read more about the Universal Translator on the product page here . Why take on a support nightmare? From the perspective of any reputable manufacturing organization, adding support for devices may be considered a risk. When a software package claims to “support” a device, to some degree, the provider of the software is making assurances of operation with a piece of hardware they have no real control over. It follows that regardless of what might no be working, the software organization is likely the first to be blamed for anything going wrong. Admittedly, most of the difficulty of maintaining a stable system does fall on software developers, but the simple truth that supporting a device becomes a software support burden, is a real point. Further, writing a driver is not a completely simple task. To support a device someone has to write, test, debug, and maintain a piece of code (the driver). This includes code that may need to change when a piece of hardware comes out with new firmware. For any software organization, the numbers on the support then need to make sense. For instance, if I already manufacture or support a quite nice XYZ stage controller, or perhaps a LED engine, why would my company invest resources to support a competing product? In the end, many times the answer to this question is: don’t support the competing product. End user restriction For the owner of said software, this sensible approach by the company results in an effective lockout of technology. Perhaps the end user needs a somewhat novel and “low volume” device, which, while not competing with a manufacturer, simply doesn’t sell enough to justify a return on the investment of driver development. Or perhaps the user wants to drive outdated hardware already on-hand in the lab, which the company has no interest in supporting. Further, perhaps a new, novel and exciting technology is attempting to enter the microscopy market, but nobody wants to write a driver at-risk, just hoping the new technology actually succeeds. There isn’t a “bad guy” in these examples, just competing forces of resources, time, etc. Yet the end-state remains that the user cannot drive a device when he or she wishes to. A solution to unlock thousands of devices, for use today Working in-field over the years, I came upon this problem more times than I can remember. Yet – until recently, the notion that these devices could be effectively and reliably emulated posed a great challenge. To effectively emulate a device, the translator had to support 2 drivers, do so at a short time delay, and be able to bounce between many different communication types (Serial, USB, TTL, Analog). To truly be effective, such a device should support more than 1 sub-devices, so that complete systems would function with short communication overhead. With the advent and now widespread use of SBC’s, and the widespread implementation of python scripts for communication, it is now possible to solve this problem with a few bits of available hardware. Conceptual communication scheme using Universal Translator Our solution relies on a front-side microcontroller for USB emulation, providing emulation capability to the host PC of one or more serial-usb ports, a raw HID device, a hard disk, a joystick, a MIDI controller, a keyboard, a mouse, as well as other device types. This flexibility allows a wide array of methods to interface with existing hardware. On the client hardware side, the device supports Ethernet, up to 4 USB connections, AnalogI/O, and TTL interfacing. Several Drivers developed, more on the way ARC has already written front side emulators for existing filter wheel controllers, LED engines, XYZ Stage controllers, and other devices. If you are interested in a custom driver solution for your device, please get in touch! Learn More I’ve posted a video demonstrating the UT in action on a commercial software platform, which can be found here.

I made a short video describing why laser pricing is so different. Much of it comes down to how precise the beam performance needs to be, and as with so many similar fields, as precision becomes better and better, pricing begins to log scale up as the challenges increase. Thanks for watching!

Recently one of my clients was working with a Blackfly S camera from FLIR, and noticed that the TTL signaling was not working properly. With some investigation, we discovered the cause to be the camera running at 3.3V output TTL, with very little drive current, whereas the Triggerscope is configured to accept 5V input TTL signals. Needing to address this problem, we used a standard level shifting circuit, and stuffed the wires into a small enclosure. After thinking about this, I figured others may have the same problem (not only with PTG or FLIR cameras, but others also), and so decided to roll out a dedicated PCB to address this need. So – it’s posted to the store website . The circuit diagram can be seen below for those interested. You can place orders for these on the storefront here , with shipping as early as the week of 10/12/20. This can be used with any device that outputs a 3.3v signal. If you have questions on how to connect things or if it will work for your system, please don’t hesitate to contact us ! – Austin

I’m excited today to announce the release of the Triggerscope version 4. TG4 marks a major improvement in the performance and capability of the Triggerscope. New Features At the heart of Triggerscope 4 is a New high speed MCU running @ 600 Mhz. This is an 83x improvement over the Triggerscope 3B. On board 1024K MCU RAM provides more than enough memory for arrays. A new features provides access to a 16GB External SD Card, installed inside. Memory may be used for storing data for sequence access, recording of external parameters and timing events, or saving of advanced settings. A new Real Time Clock is included for better timing over long duration experiments and delays. DAC update rates can be overclocked, to a maximum frequency of 270kHz.  Integrated and simplified external controls for easier operation. New Software In addition to the release of Triggerscope 4, ARC is introducing a python-based, multi-platform compatible standalone control application. Our application can be installed on Windows, OS-X, or Linux systems. Source is also available from the GitHub Repo here. Users have two options for use – EXE and APP executables provide a small containerized version of python, so the entire application runs without any external installs required. Or, for customers who already have python installed, simply downloading and running the native python file is an option. For debugging, all communication between the software and the triggerscope are printed for the user to view, to make diagnostics and custom driver development as simple as possible. Light and Dark themes are provided to keep monitor glare down during imaging. This software is available for all Triggerscope 3 and up devices, and can be found on our GitHub Repo here . New Micromanager Firmware Options Nico Stuurman recently undertook a huge endeavor, and implemented a new approach for using MicroManager and the Triggerscope, with faster syntax, greater memory capacity, and tight integration into the Micromanager sequencing system for fast device control. ARC can install this firmware option before your triggerscope ships, just let us know which version you’d like to use! If you already have a triggerscope, and would like to use the new TriggerscopeMM Firmware, please refer to the MicroManager device adaptor variant here . For Information on setting up the Triggerscope 4, please refer to this guide . Purchase your Triggerscope 4 at the ARC Online Store here . -Austin

Here is a quick video on how to get going with the TriggerscopeMM Firmware and Micromanager 2.0 Gamma.

Austin Blanco August 7th 2021 ARC now has a driver available for users of Quorum Volocity microscopy software. New releases of Volocity will include native support. If you need a driver file or assistance please contact ARC for support. -Austin

Austin Blanco Feb 3rd 2021 Here is a quick example of using the RANGE controls in the Triggerscope GUI Application, as well as an example of saving ranges to the on board SD Card.

We’ve made a new video example of how to get things set up on the Triggerscope with the “Micromanager” version firmware from Nico . Please take a look if you are interested in updating your Triggerscope to use this code, or if you want to learn more about using Shutters, blanking, and presets for the -MM firmware device.