Symbion-DX/RX a standardized application development, networking, and on-line monitoring environment for all process analytical technology (PAT) requirements.

Versions to Meet Diverse Requirements

Symbion-DX and RX are both fully capable process analytical software suites. The difference between the two is in the trade-off between flexibility and ease of achieving compliance with 21 CFR Part 11 and other standards prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry. Symbion-DX provides the greater flexibility. It is appropriate for research and the early stages of methods development as well as deployment in industries that are not highly regulated. Symbion-RX, on the other hand, includes a number of safeguards to help insure compliance when operating in a highly regulated environment. A third version, Symbion-LX, is designed specifically for laboratory analysis.

Managing the Measurement Process

Symbion-DX and RX provide a standard software environment for controlling, sequencing, and networking analytical instruments, sampling systems, and data analysis routines. In short, Symbion manages the measurement process - from application development to routine on-line operation. During development it provides all of the tools needed to design virtually any analytical method. Once a method has been developed, it can be locked down and provided with a custom operator screen with access to predetermined set of operations and displays.

In the traditional world of distributed control systems (DCS), relatively simple sensors such as RTD’s, flow meters, and pressure gauges are used to provide one dimensional (scalar) information which can be processed directly by the DCS.  With advent of process analytical technology, the situation has changed drastically.  An analytical instrument, such as a near-infrared spectrometer, may provide as many as 2,000 independent spectral data points in less than a second.  This large amount of data must be collected, stored, displayed, transmitted, and processed in such a way as to provide timely and manageable information about the process variables of interest.  Symbion fills this role, bridging the gap between the instrumentation at the manufacturing process and the data historian, SCADA, or other enterprise-level data system.

Key Elements of the Symbion Approach

Symbion is organized in such a way as to provide a high degree of flexibility within a framework specifically tailored to the needs of analytical instrumentation. Here are some of the elements that make this possible:

Database Storage: Symbion employs a standard database structure for all user information, data, and configuration protocols.  This structure provides a full audit train while facilitating networking and hand-off to other data systems.

PAT-Specific User Interface:  Symbion’s four main windows are designed to streamline the performance of the tasks typically encountered in process analysis.

PAT-Specific Command Structure:  Symbion’s command syntax is modular and hierarchical.  As a result, it requires only a relatively small number of easily understood standardized commands to meet the great majority of both laboratory and process requirements.  

Standardized Instrument and Software Interfacing:  The unique requirements of individual instruments, sampling systems, chemometrics routines, and enterprise-wide data systems are met by specific Symbion drivers. These can be interchanged within Symbion’s command structure by simply substituting the appropriate driver name without otherwise affecting syntax.

Menu-Driven Method Development:  Symbion’s composer utility includes pop-up script composers for all of the standard commands.  These enable you to design any analytical method by simply selecting items from pull-down menus and filling in blanks. 

Symbion’s Major Functions:

Symbion-DX and RX provide a common software platform to control and process data from a wide variety of analytical instruments while providing all of the capabilities required for comprehensive process analysis.  These include:


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