Navigation Module
The Navigation Module of the microscope software Morgentau M1 complements your microscope shifting table with a
professional computer interface.
The Navigation Module offers several distinct advantages that allow researchers to boost their research.
It allows scientists to control and navigate their microscope setup with highest precision.
With this module, other research devices such as pipettes or lenses can also be integrated and jointly controlled
with a software interface.
Gain precision, comfort, speed, and documentation capabilities
The features offered by this module lead to substantial time-saving, a maximum of both precision and comfort,
and an enhanced control of your microscope setup. This module monitors and controls the connected devices and
also allows you to document your research automatically. In addition, it handles the three-dimensional steering
of the shifting table in real time.
The benefits of this module are rooted in an improved orientation, an easier navigation, a better automation,
an intuitive user interface, and automated documentation capabilities.
Features of the Navigation Module
The image below indicates the features of the Navigation Module:
- Real-Time Image (1). Real-time video image obtained from a CCIP/PAL camera. Navigate the table by clicking in the screen.
- Different Channels (2). Control various motor systems such as the shifting table, pipettes, or lenses.
- Navigation (3). An intuitive control panel with different speed modes, also allowing you to enter text coordinates.
- Radar Panel (4). Provides a spatial overview of the specimen, e.g. by defining navigation points.
- Navigation Points (5). Create and organize navigation points to relocate objects or to position the system.
- Large Overview Images (6). Combine single images to obtain large overview images. Then export these for later use.
- Z-axis Control (7). Intuitive control of the Z-axis with an autofocus option.
- Different Magnifications (8). Calibrate the software to use different magnification objectives.
Easier navigation
The microscope software Morgentau M1 offers superior navigation functions
by allowing users to freely move at any speed
in any direction. This feature is supplemented by precision tools for moving to specific coordinates or
for measuring distances.
Navigation points
Navigation points are an important instrument for providing an easy navigation and an improved orientation. They can be defined at any
position on the screen and the researcher can later choose to automatically relocate the microscope optics to the previously
defined points. With these navigation points, the system can also be positioned along a previously defined path.
Real-time positioning
To monitor the position of the microscope optics, the center of the navigation screen displays a digitized
real-time video stream recorded by the camera (CCIR/PAL).
By clicking into the video screen, the experimenter can select the center position of the
microscope optics leading to the desired repositioning of the shifting table.
Left to this screen, there is a control panel that
allows the real-time positioning of the shifting table at different motor speeds
in three dimensions. In addition to the shifting table, other motor systems such as pipettes, or lenses can also be controlled.
Improved orientation
The overview image, the definition of multiple areas of interest and
the parallel display of several views at different zoom levels allows users to gain
a good overview of the specimen easily. In turn, users benefit
from drastically cutting on the effort needed for orientation.
Overview image
At a high resolution, video screens generally display only a small part of the region of interest. This problem is solved as follows:
To obtain a spatially extensive overview image for documentation purposes, several overlapping
high resolution images from the region of interest are automatically stitched together.
The compound image resulting from the stitching procedure
can then also be saved as an image file or be transferred to other modules.
Radar panel
The overview of the spatial relations between navigation points on the specimen in the XY-plane is provided by
an additional radar panel. With this radar panel, researchers can navigate freely and gain a comfortable overview
of the specimen. Moreover, they are in the position to generate images for documentation purposes.
Different magnifications
A low magnification lens can be used to obtain a comfortable overview of large areas of the specimen. This
function provides an overview of spatially extensive areas, which for example is
interesting for mapping experiments on large brain regions.
Better automation
Morgentau M1 offers a number of handy automation tools. Functions such as autofocus,
the automatic adaptation to changing microscope optics concerning different magnifications and the automatic logging of results
allow to drastically speed-up common actions and to conduct repetitive actions.
Vertical autofocus of z-axis
The Navigation Module provides a vertical autofocus concerning the video image.
This function optimizes the quality of the image which is
displayed in the video screen.
Control of z-axis
Via different channels, other devices than a microscope shifting table can be controlled such as a pipette or a laser.
Controlling the z-axis then allows determining the third spatial dimension of this device.
Intuitive user interface
The intuitive user interface of the Navigation Module - grown from real-life experience - is easy to learn and simplifies
formerly complex actions to a point where even a trained layman can perform them.
Documentation capabilities
The built-in documentation capabilities provide a high comfort during research processes. For example, the video stream of the
microscope optics can be saved as an image file. Additionally, large auto-stitched overview images can be generated and saved.
This eases the subsequent deployment of microscope images in scientific papers or presentations.
Navigation points can also be exported for later usage. Such documentation capabilities clearly minimize the probability of
transcription errors.
