An inexpensive, open-source system for automated, high-throughput, realtime observation and conditioning experiments.
A complete ATLeS installation consists of an ATLeS server and one or more ATLeS boxes on the same network as the server.
Only the server needs to be accessible to other machines. For security purposes, the boxes should ideally be on an isolated private network that connects only the boxes and the server, but this is not strictly required.
The minimum requirement for the software to work correctly (finding and registering boxes in the server interface) is that the server and the boxes are on the same subnet / broadcast domain.
The Raspberry Pi systems controlling the boxes should not be considered strongly secured, and separating them from other networks is ideal. One way to achieve this security and separation is to install the server on a machine with two network interfaces: one connects to the regular campus/business network, while the other connects to a separate switch along with all of the ATLeS boxes.
The server software can run on a Raspberry Pi, even one installed in and controlling an ATLeS box, and so it is possible to create a working system with even just a single Raspberry Pi. This is not recommended due to security, performance, and stability issues that may arise. However, it can provide a quick, relatively simple way to prototype or demonstrate ATLeS.
The server software has been tested under Debian Linux and Cygwin. It should work on any recent Linux distribution, and it may run on other platforms as well.
To install the server software, first clone the ATLeS repository:
git clone https://github.com/liffiton/ATLeS.git
Required Python packages can be installed using pip (pip3 is used as ATLeS is written for Python 3). If you need to install pip, refer to these instructions.
cd ATLeS/src
pip3 install --user -U -r requirements_web.txt
The --user flag installs the required packages for the current user only. Alternatively, you can install them and run ATLeS within a virtual environment or install them systemwide by omitting --user and adding sudo before the pip3 command.
If pip installs the required packages successfully, you should be able to run the server:
./atles_web.py
By default, it will start serving the web interface on port 8080 (configurable via the --port command line option), and it will be accessible by pointing a web browser to http://1.2.3.4:8080/, where 1.2.3.4 is replaced with the IP address of the server.
The easiest way to install the required software on a Raspberry Pi for a new ATLeS Box is to burn (write) a pre-configured image onto a MicroSD card. A 4GB card is required, and 8GB or larger is recommended. Disk images are available as versioned releases on Github: https://github.com/liffiton/ATLeS/releases. Download a disk image and extract the .img file. We recommend using Etcher to burn the image to a MicroSD card.
Alternatively, follow the Manual Box Software Setup instructions to install all needed software from scratch.
If using a provided pre-configured image to install the software, a few additional steps are required.
Boot and log in to the Raspberry Pi with a freshly-installed MicroSD card with username: pi password: fishypi.
If the Pi will be on a publicly-accessible network, change the password to something secure by running passwd.
Run sudo raspi-config and:
Expand filesystem to fit (depending on the image you used, this may have been done automatically already)
Set hostname (suggestion: name boxes sequentially and label each box with its hostname – this is how they will be identified in the web interface)
Exit the configuration software and reboot.
After rebooting the box, there is one more step to register the box on the server. From the server, run:
ATLeS/install/setup_box.sh [box hostname or IP]
You will need to provide a password to log in to the box (the default from
above or whatever you set it to), and it will then setup the box to run the
atles_remote.py software at boot.
Now, if the box is connected to the same network as the server, the box should appear in the web interface automatically.