Figure 1. Radwag XA82 range of laboratory analytical balances

Deft, a scalable, laboratory digital network product for integrating and standardising bench-top instrument communication protocols in chemical formulation and R&D laboratories. Deft can work as a stand-alone system or as part of an existing LIMS connected laboratory digital automation infrastructure. At the heart of the Deft system is the Deft Gateway based on the SiLA 2 protocol (Standardisation in Lab Automation), which combines Bluetooth instrument connectivity with Wi-Fi protocol to connect the lab instruments to a secure local area or iCloud network.

Aimed at the bench scientist, Deft unobtrusively captures the process data (Industry 4.0 and Big Data compliant) providing the ‘information gap’ when comparing manually made bench formulations and has a host of additional features such as experimental design, workflow control, remote access, and Asset Management worthy of a fully digital Lab-of-the-Future program.

Applied Scientific Technologies (AST) are the global specialists for SiLA 2 driver development and have linked 30-40 standard lab bench equipment into Deft already using the SiLA 2 communications protocol. Our latest addition to our growing library is the Radwag XA82 Analytical Balance.

The Radwag XA82 analytical balance is designed for accurately measuring small amounts of weighed material. It features standard control via front touch screen, encompassing a wide range of settings and controls.

Figure 2. Setup of the Deft System and Lab Equipment

Radweg AX82 Features and Commands
- Offers communication via RS232 / USB
- Provides a range of transmittable commands and defined responses for remote operation
- Sending a weight request 'SUI' results in the Radwag responding with the immediate weight and unit measure
- Sending a Tare command 'T' results in the Radwag taring the current weight and unit
- Door control was also possible to perform remotely
- Sending the Open Door command 'OD' would remotely open the weigh chamber door
- Sending the Close Door command 'CD' would remotely close the weigh chamber door
- Following these commands the unit will respond with status (Command In Progress, Command Successful, Error)

Deft App control of workflow

The above command set allowed the Radwag XA82 to be integrated into DEFT as follows:
- A common SiLA 2 Feature (Weigh Provider) was defined to capture common functionality found in most balances:
- Weight Value, current weight
- Weight Units, current units
- Weigh Command, requests the current weight on the balance
- Tare Command, clears the balance

A new feature was defined to capture common functionality found in open/close mechanisms:
- Status, is the unit open, closed or in an unknown state
- Open Command, request the unit to open
- Close Command, request the unit to close

On the Deft Gateway, RadWag XA82 specific implementations of these features were created:
- Mapped the specific Radwag Commands to the generic feature commands (Weigh, Tare, Open, Close)
- Allows the user to remotely interact with the balance using the tablet
- Allows the user to remotely control the weigh chamber doors

Our SiLA 2 protocols are developed as a combination of SiLA features, allowing for greater code reuse. This also allows us to use devices with minimal changes to the application. Along with being user-friendly this has the potential to reduce the learning curve for using new devices.

SiLA 2 (Standardisation in Lab Automation) enables Lab-of-the-Future technology through free and open communication protocols and data standards. The adopting of SiLA helps to future proof lab equipment by enabling end-to-end integration with lab instruments and allows them to connect to each other are share data more seamlessly. www.sila-standard.com/

Deft is cloud-ready to allow Asset Management, remote access and Over-The-Air updates seamlessly integrating into any digital laboratory environment. Implementing SiLA 2 for this technology provides many benefits such as digitisation information capture and standard Deft benefits which include specific user experimental design and workflow integration via an Android Tablet or mobile phone App. The Tablet App GUI is intuitive and requires no formal training. The App allows many functions that are not possible when using the device alone such as capturing all communication and data, allowing the device to be controlled wirelessly and automatically run multiple experiments in sequence under user control.

Applied Scientific Technologies (AST) is an emerging, innovative spin-out company founded in 2017 based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. Founded by two directors from Applied Integration UK Ltd, a company celebrating its 15th working anniversary. AST are innovative specialists in robotics, automated control systems and hardware integration in the laboratory, chemical, pharmaceutical, physical and life science industries supporting your laboratory digitalisation journey.

Adopting SiLA 2 protocols into a Lab-of-the-Future digital network – Radwag XA82 Analytical Balance