NIST led work on automated analytical laboratory standards leads to ASTM standard

A new Laboratory Equipment Control Interface Specification (LECIS) soon will be available as ASTM Standard E1989-98. ASTM Committee E49 on Computerized Systems and Chemical and Material Information and Subcommittee E49.52 on Computerization of Analytical Sciences Data approved the LECIS standard last November. LECIS is a prescriptive control specification that describes the expected behavior of laboratory equipment designed to be incor-porated into automated systems for chemical analysis. LECIS is derived from work done under the auspices of the Consortium on Automated Analytical Laboratory Systems (CAALS)-a government-private sector joint venture to foster the development and application of chemistry laboratory automation standards. The Modular Control Architecture, the set of Behaviors for Device Control, the Common Command Set, and the High-Level Communication Protocol developed by CAALS were combined and harmonized with the General Equipment Interface Specification defined at Sandia National Laboratories to create LECIS.

For the first 6 years of this decade, NIST hosted CAALS. During this time 23 companies and other government agencies participated in the consortiums activities through cooperative research and development agreements and Interagency Agreements. Currently, several private-sector companies are developing LECIS implementations for laboratory robots and other automated equipment. Information on these and other LECIS-oriented activities can be found at www.lecis.org.