MethodSCRIPT in action: introduction, demonstration and Q&A session

As an OEM supplier, PalmSens is aware of how important your own software is. We support our customers with several Software Development Kits (SDK), which make writing your own software easier and more efficient. Efficient programming for our potentiostat modules by our customers reached a new level with the release of the EmStat Pico. This small potentiostat is communicating to its software via MethodSCRIPT, a programming language developed by PalmSens to enable customers to write the software for their application on almost any programming platform. In this webinar recording, we will show you how to extract MethodSCRIPT code from PSTrace, how to make your instrument hibernate, perform a measurement after a trigger, and more.

MethodSCRIPT expert Hielke Veringa and Dr. Lutz Stratmann will give you a brief general introduction to MethodSCRIPT followed by a live demonstration and Q&A session It will last a total of 40 minutes comprising around 20 minutes for the introduction and demonstration followed by 20 minutes for questions.

Download the three PSMethod files used in the webinar using the button below. Connect a (virtual) EmStat Pico or EmStat4M module, and go to the MethodSCRIPT Sandbox editor. The three MethodSCRIPT examples are also shown below.

Choose OEM potentiostat

Download PSMethod examples

Download MethodSCRIPT documentation

Scroll down to the examples

Timestamps in the MethodSCRIPT webinar

  • 00:00 Waiting for last people joining
  • 01:45 Introduction of the speakers
  • 03:34 Introduction to MethodSCRIPT
  • 08:35 Demonstration of three MethodSCRIPT examples
  • 09:39 First example: SWV with Sensit BT saved on onboard storage
  • 10:45 Load first measurement from onboard storage
  • 11:46 Second example: Temperature measurement on the Sensit BT using i2C, start with trigger button
  • 15:12 More examples of using i2C
  • 15:47 Third example: Peak detection on the EmStat4M Development Kit
  • 19:30 Give feedback via green and red LED
  • 22:08 Summary
  • 22:53 What is hibernating mode?
  • 24:20 Start Questions & Answer session
  • 24:49 Can you perform three measurements and save the data of only one in the memory?
  • 26:05 Is there an example how to use the onboard Real Time Clock?
  • 27:36 Is it possible to start the measurement based on a timer?
  • 28:34 Can MethodSCRIPT be used to perform multiple methods after each other?
  • 30:40 Can you do a loop in a loop?
  • 31:30 What is the different between MethodSCRIPT and Scripting in PSTrace?
  • 34:18 Can you create MethodSCRIPT out of the PSTrace scripting window?
  • 35:02 Combining MethodSCRIPT and PSTrace scripting window
  • 37:15 When to use C# Software Development Kit and when to use MethodSCRIPT 49:09 Can you perform peak fitting within MethodSCRIPT?
1

MethodSCRIPT example 1: SWV on the Sensit BT, save on internal storage 

e
set_gpio_cfg 0x1E 2
file_open "https://assets.palmsens.com/Measurements/14-04-2022/SWV-10-49-16-0.dmeas" 1
set_script_output 3
var c
var p
var f
var g
set_pgstat_chan 1
set_pgstat_mode 0
set_pgstat_chan 0
set_pgstat_mode 2
set_max_bandwidth 200
set_range_minmax da -400m 400m
set_range ba 59n
set_autoranging ba 59n 59n
set_e -300m
cell_on
meas_loop_swv p c f g -300m 300m 10m 100m 5
pck_start
pck_add p
pck_add c
pck_add f
pck_add g
pck_end
endloop
on_finished:
file_close
cell_off

Attention: The current PSTrace version (5.9.4206) is not capable of loading measurements from the internal storage created by a MethodSCRIPT Sandbox measurement. These files have to be opened with our SDK examples. In PSTrace 5.10 this issue is fixed. You can download a BETA version of PSTrace 5.10 from my.palmsens.com

 

2

MethodSCRIPT example 2: Temperature measurement on the Sensit BT using i2C, start with trigger button 

e
#############  Hibernate and wait for button push #############
#Hibernate in low power mode, wake up on WAKE pin event (button push)
#Could also have used get_gpio on with GPIO pin if saving power wasn't a concern
hibernate 0x07i 60
############# Declare measurement variables variables #############
var c
var p
var f
var g
############# I2C Temperature measurement initialisation #############
# Declare variables for Temperature measurement
# Most significant bits
var m
# Least significant bits
var l
# Acknowledge
var a
# Array with Write data
array w 2
# Array with Read data
array r 2
# Status register
var s
# Configure I2C GPIOs and set it to 100k clock, 7 bit address
set_gpio_cfg 0x0300i 2
i2c_config 100k 7
# Configure the sensor for 16bit mode with continuous conversion
store_var a 0i ja
array_set w 0i 0x03i
array_set w 1i 0x80i
i2c_write 0x48i w 2 a
############# Measurement initialisation #############
set_pgstat_chan 0
set_pgstat_mode 2
set_max_bandwidth 200
set_range_minmax da -400m 400m
set_range ba 59n
set_autoranging ba 59n 59n
set_e -300m
cell_on
############# Run measurement #############
# Perform SWV measurement from -300 mV to 300 mV at 5 Hz
meas_loop_swv p c f g -300m 300m 10m 100m 5
    ############# Get I2C temperature #############
    # Check if temperature sensor is ready
    store_var s 0x80i ja
    i2c_write_byte 0x48i 0x02i a
    i2c_read_byte 0x48i s a
    bit_and_var s 0x80i
    # Ignore if temperature sensor not ready.
    if s != 0x80i
        # Read temperature values
        i2c_write_byte 0x48i 0x00i a
        i2c_read 0x48i r 2 a
        array_get r 0i m
        array_get r 1i l
        # Convert to degrees Celcius
        bit_lsl_var m 8i
        add_var m l
        if m > 0x8000i
            sub_var m 0x10000i
        endif
        int_to_float m
        div_var m 128
    endif
    ############# Send measurement package #############
    pck_start
        # Sweep potential
        pck_add p
        # Current
        pck_add c
        # Temperature
        pck_add m
    pck_end
endloop
on_finished:
cell_off

 

3

MethodSCRIPT example 3: Peak detection on the EmStat4M Development Kit 

e
############# Declare measurement variables variables #############
var c
var p
var f
var g
############# Init peak detect #############
# Declare variables
var n
var i
var m
var l
array a 100i
array b 100i
store_var n 0i ja
store_var m 0 ba
store_var l 1M ba
############# Configure LED pins #############
set_gpio_cfg 0x7 1
set_gpio 0x0
############# Measurement initialisation #############
set_pgstat_chan 0
set_pgstat_mode 2
set_max_bandwidth 200
set_range_minmax da -400m 400m
set_range ba 59n
set_autoranging ba 59n 59n
set_e -300m
cell_on
############# Run measurement #############
# Perform SWV measurement from -300 mV to 300 mV at 5 Hz
meas_loop_swv p c f g -300m 300m 10m 100m 5
    # Store measurement data in array
    array_set a n p
    array_set b n c
    add_var n 1i
endloop
############# Simple peak search algorithm #############
# As an example, we just determine max and min value
# Many applications will need a more sophisticated algorithm
store_var i 0i ja
loop i < n
    array_get b i c
    if c > m
        copy_var c m
    endif
    if c < l
        copy_var c l
    endif
    add_var i 1i
endloop
############# Send measurement data #############
store_var i 0i ja
loop i < n
    array_get a i p
    array_get b i c
    pck_start
    pck_add p
    pck_add c
    pck_add m
    pck_add l
    pck_end
    add_var i 1i
endloop
############# Decision time #############
#subtract "min" value from "max" to get the relative peak height
sub_var m l
# Enable red LED if peak > nA, otherwise enable green LED
if m > 2n
    set_gpio 0x1
else
    set_gpio 0x2
endif
############# Turn cell off, even if aborted #############
on_finished:
cell_off

 

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