CRAPPY: Command and Real-Time Acquisition in Parallelized Python, a Python module for experimental setups

Abstract

Performing relevant mechanical tests requires complex experimental setups. CRAPPY is a Python module meant to help researchers develop code for systems involving several sensors and/or actuators. It features a number of advanced tools to perform measurements, drive hardware, and process data. CRAPPY aims at making the design of advanced tests easier and accessible to non-code experts. It is highly modular, and new devices can easily be added to the module as long as they can be interfaced with Python. Users can fully take advantage of Python’s versatility in their experimental scripts, as they are not constrained by any GUI. CRAPPY features a wide variety of tools specific to experimental mechanics as it was first developed for this field, but tools and instruments from other domains can as well be included within its framework. In this paper, the project and its functionalities will be described, illustrated by short examples of code and existing experimental setups using CRAPPY.

Keywords

• Control-command
• Acquisition
• Python
• Experimental setup