A Mathematical Model for Instrumentation Configuration

Abstract

This paper describes a model of how to configure settings on instrumentation. For any given instrument there may be 100s of settings that can be set to various values. However, randomly selecting values for each setting is not likely to produce a valid configuration. By "valid" we mean a set of setting values that can be implemented by each instrument. The valid configurations must satisfy a set of dependency rules between the settings and other constraints. The formalization provided allows for identification of different sets of configurations settings under control by different systems and organizations. Similarly, different rule sets are identified. A primary application of this model is in the context of a multi-vendor system especially when including vendors that maintain proprietary rules governing their systems. This thus leads to a discussion of an application user interface (API) between different systems with different rules and settings.