introduction.tex

In every experimental laboratory the need for acquisition and subsequent
logging of data is essential. The acquired data from a given experiment is
typically stored locally on a laboratory computer and is often acquired in
highly specialized proprietary software tightly integrated with the
experimental equipment by the manufacturer. These software suites often saves
to closed proprietary formats which are difficult to exchange across several
computers (e.g. a laboratory computer and an office computer) as specialized
software is required both to read and export the data files. The software
furthermore typically also requires additional licenses increasing complexity
and cost of the total system. The exchange of acquired data between different
computers, some even with different operating systems, is hence cumbersome and
difficult.

To avoid difficult data exchange and simplify data processing an open source
software platform is a much more attractive
solution\cite{Benn2009,Murray2011,So2007}. To accommodate these demands we have
written an open source platform for saving, logging, treating and visualizing
experimental data.

In the present work we describe a software system consisting of data
acquisition, storage in a centralized database and a comprehensive display
module including simple data treatment algorithms licensed under the GNU
general public License (GPL)\cite{gpl}.