Concepts

What is Semphony?

Semphony is a control and orchestration platform for in-situ experiments. It connects your instruments, imaging systems, and deformation devices into coordinated workflows that can be repeated, shared, and gradually automated over time.

How the pieces fit together

This diagram shows a typical setup in the lab, with the Semphony control server coordinating three concrete devices and their instruments.

Semphony control network overview

flowchart TB
    R[Researchers<br/>Browser dashboard] -->|HTTPS| CS[Semphony control server]

    CS --> SEMC
    CS --> EDAXC
    CS --> DEFC

    subgraph SEMClient[" "]
        direction TB
        SEMC[SEM Device<br/>TESCAN MIRA 3]
        TSEM[TESCAN MIRA 3 SEM]
    end

    subgraph EDAXClient[" "]
        direction TB
        EDAXC[EDAX Detectors Device<br/>EDS + EBSD]
        EDS[EDAX EDS]
        EBSD[EDAX EBSD]
    end

    subgraph DeformationClient[" "]
        direction TB
        DEFC[Deformation Device<br/>KammrathWeiss Controller]
        KW[KammrathWeiss Controller]
        MTS[Micro tensile stage]
    end

    SEMC --> TSEM

    EDAXC --> EDS
    EDAXC --> EBSD

    DEFC --> KW
    KW --> MTS

Core concepts

Systems: logical groupings of devices that form a usable experiment setup (for example an SEM, a deformation stage, and a temperature controller).
Devices: registered instruments or device agents that connect to the control server. Each device belongs to a system and can receive commands and report logs.
Commands: discrete actions the platform can perform, such as moving a stage, acquiring an image, changing a load, or waiting for a condition.
Logs & metrics: structured records of what happened when, so you can debug experiments and compare runs.

SDK-based and GUI-based control

Semphony prefers to use official manufacturer SDKs whenever they are available, to get reliable, well-defined control of your instruments. When an SDK is not available, device agents can fall back to GUI-based control strategies, such as controlling vendor software through automation.

Typical lab scenarios

In-situ tensile test in an SEM with synchronized imaging at defined strain levels, controlled by a deformation device and a microscope.
Combined optical and SEM characterisation where an optical microscope performs fast pre-screening before detailed SEM imaging.

In all of these cases Semphony focuses on making the experiment repeatable and automatable, while still letting you start with simple, partially manual workflows.