With the CytoSMART® Lux2 it is possible to perform specific offline experiments when there is no internet access. However, we recommend to only use this for short-term experiments. Furthermore, access to the results will be limited to the system directly connected to the CytoSMART® Lux2. Also, you cannot create videos, perform analyses or set notification thresholds of the images during an offline experiment.
Start an Offline Experiment
When the CytoSMART® Lux2 is active but the controlling computer does not have an active internet connection, an orange notification (Fig. 6.1A) will be visible in the live screen (Fig. 6.1). The ‘Start experiment’ button (Fig. 6.1B) is disabled, because the app first needs to be set to Offline mode. This is done by selecting the ‘Mode’ tab (Fig. 6.1C) in the top menu, and clicking ‘Switch to Offline mode’ (Fig. 6.2A). The top ribbon indicates that Offline mode is activated (Fig. 6.2B), and the ‘Start offline experiment’ button (Fig. 6.2C) is enabled (Fig. 6.2).
Fig. 6.1: Live screen when active internet connection is absent. A) Check icon to see if the system is connected to internet. B) Start experiment button is disabled when no internet. C) Mode menu to switch to offline mode.
Fig. 6.2: Live screen switched to Offline mode. A) Button under Mode tab to switch to Offline mode. B) Offline mode indicated in top menu. C) Start offline experiment button becomes enabled.
After selecting ‘Start offline experiment’, the offline experiment menu will appear (Fig. 6.3). Offline experiments cannot be assigned to projects. First, you need to provide an experiment name here (Fig. 6.3A). Next, select the desired snapshot interval (Fig. 6.3B). A drop-down menu will appear with various intervals to choose from.
Important: Since biological cells can be susceptible to light, it is advised not to use a higher recording frequency than needed.
Then select whether you want your experiment to stop after a certain time, or you do not want an automatic stop, by selecting the appropriate option from the drop-down menu (Fig. 6.3C).
When all details are set, select the ‘Start my experiment’ button (Fig. 6.3D). Now the offline experiment will begin and the system will automatically go into sleep mode in between imaging.
Fig. 6.3: Offline experiment menu. A) Define a name for the offline experiment. B) Define snapshot interval. C) Choose between a custom end date or an open-ended experiment (automatic stop). D) Start an offline experiment.
6.3 Accessing Offline Experiment Results
Also in the Offline mode, the live screen (Fig. 6.4) will show that an experiment is running by the spinning arrows (Fig. 6.4A). In the top ribbon, it will be indicated whether all images are uploaded to the local storage on the computer (Fig. 6.4B). To access the obtained results select ‘Open experiment location’ (Fig. 6.4C) from the live screen. This will open a folder in the Windows explorer (Fig. 6.5) containing all the images (.jpg) of the offline experiments. You can review the image files from the offline experiment or transfer them to a USB flash drive or other data storage device.
6.4 Ending an Offline Experiment
Select the red ‘Stop experiment’ button (Fig. 6.4D), to end an experiment and select ‘OK’ to confirm.
If necessary, switch back to Online mode, via the ‘Mode’ tab (Fig. 6.1C; Fig. 6.2A) in live view.
Fig. 6.4: Live view screen during running offline experiment. A) Spinning arrows indicating running experiment. B) Upload status of images to local storage folder. C) Link to open experiment in Windows Explorer. D) Stop the experiment button.
Fig. 6.5: Offline experiment file overview in Windows Explorer.