By pooling these resources and providing a common network and user interfaces to these resources, science researchers and educators will have capabilities that no one institution could afford. We have used a wide range of networking technologies, including modem, ISDN, Ethernet, T1, and ATM to control the SEM, and a wide range of image transmission technologies, including closed circuit TV, compressed video over ATM, and digital imaging. We have taken a modular approach to software control which allows us to arrange key pieces in a variety of ways on a number of different platforms. Results indicate that under the correct conditions, access to expensive and sensitive commercially-available scientific equipment can be shared by large research, educational, and industrial communities. We are addressing issues of security, ease of use, network performance, quality of service, and systems engineering.
Plans are to incorporate remote access into university, community college, and high school use.
Based upon this experience, we propose a framework for standardizing remote access to visual scientific equipment. This approach will allow a wide variety of equipment to be shared in a flexible and uniform manner. For more information, please see our article in Scanning Vol. Remote control of the laser scanning confocal microscope has successfully been demonstrated from the CSUH campus. Jamie Vasenka, Professor of Physics, was awarded an NSF ILI grant to install a SPM at CSU Fresno .