reductus: a stateless Python data-reduction service with a browser frontend

TL;DR

Reductus is a stateless Python-based online data reduction service with a browser interface, enabling flexible, real-time transformation of experimental measurements into meaningful quantities with uncertainty estimation.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible, visual pipeline construction tool for data reduction that operates via a web interface and uses intelligent caching for responsiveness.

Findings

Supports immediate data reduction for neutron reflectometry measurements.

Provides a flexible, visual dataflow interface for constructing data transformation pipelines.

Operates without requiring local software installation on user devices.

Abstract

The online data reduction service reductus transforms measurements in experimental science from laboratory coordinates into physically meaningful quantities with accurate estimation of uncertainties based on instrumental settings and properties. This reduction process is based on a few well-known transformations, but flexibility in the application of the transforms and algorithms supports flexibility in experiment design, supporting a broader range of measurements than a rigid reduction scheme for data. The user interface allows easy construction of arbitrary pipelines from well-known data transforms using a visual dataflow diagram. Source data is drawn from a networked, open data repository. The Python backend uses intelligent caching to store intermediate results of calculations for a highly responsive user experience. The reference implementation allows immediate reduction of measurements as they are recorded for the three neutron reflectometry instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), without the need for visiting scientists to install additional software on their own computers.