Automation of data collection at beamlines

A common workflow solution has been developed that can be applied to all beamlines.

The workflow software package is called ewoks and it supports multiple workflow engines (Orange, Dask and pure Python), and a web interface (see figure below). The first applications include MX beamlines, dark-field X-ray microscopy, strain scanning and tomography. The next steps are (1) deploy ewoks in production for the first applications, (2) develop the interface between workflows and the beamline control for online data processing, (3) train scientists on how to develop their own workflows, and (4) identify new use cases where workflows can be applied.

Already, a generic solution for workflows for automating data reduction has been developed and tested on MX beamlines. Workflows for high-throughput powder-diffraction have been developed and will soon be tested with the first experiments using the new high-throughput powder diffraction sample environment (HTpXRD) at ID31.

Workflows will be applied to automate processes on as many beamlines as possible during the course of the Streamline project in order to automate and accelerate the often repetitive and time-consuming tasks required to reduce data.

Figure 1. Screenshot of the ewoks web editor being used for an MX workflow.