Automated operation of a homemade torque magnetometer using LabVIEW

In order to simplify and optimize the operation of our homemade torque magnetometer, we created a new software system. The architecture is based on parallel, independently running instrument handlers communicating with a main control program. All programs are designed as command driven state machines which greatly simplifies their maintenance and expansion. Moreover, as the main program may receive commands not only from the user interface, but also from other parallel running programs, an easy way of automation is achieved. A program working through a text file containing a sequence of commands and sending them to the main program suffices to automatically have the system conduct a complex set of measurements. In this paper, we describe the system's architecture and its implementation in LabVIEW.