Tecan Spark

The Tecan Spark is a modular multimode microplate reader. A single instrument can be configured for absorbance, fluorescence intensity, time-resolved fluorescence, fluorescence polarisation, luminescence and Alpha-technology assays, and the platform extends to live-cell imaging and real-time cytometry in the Spark Cyto configuration. Revolution drives it through Tecan’s own SparkControl software, so the reader keeps its full measurement capability while the schedule decides when each measurement runs.

At a glance

Detection modes	Absorbance, fluorescence intensity, time-resolved fluorescence, fluorescence polarisation, luminescence; Alpha detection module for AlphaScreen, AlphaLISA and AlphaPlex
Absorbance range	200–1000 nm, OD 0–4; full spectrum in under five seconds
Labware	ANSI/SLAS microplates from 1 to 1536 wells, cuvettes, Tecan NanoQuant Plate, Tecan Cell Chips
Instrument software	SparkControl (required — Revolution runs SparkControl methods, it does not replace them)
Revolution control	Run a stored or file-based method, open-ended kinetic runs, plate transport, cancel

Detection modes

Which modes a given Spark supports depends on the modules fitted to that instrument. Revolution does not select a detection mode directly; it runs a SparkControl method, and the method defines the measurement.

• Absorbance — 200–1000 nm, including the deep-UV range used for A260/A230 nucleic-acid purity checks
• Fluorescence intensity — filters or monochromators on both excitation and emission, with automated z-focus adjustment for top reading
• Time-resolved fluorescence and fluorescence polarisation
• Luminescence — flash and glow, with a dynamic range spanning more than nine orders of magnitude and multicolour measurement of up to five luciferases
• Alpha detection — AlphaScreen, AlphaLISA and AlphaPlex, via the dedicated laser module

Supported methods

The measurement itself is defined in SparkControl. Revolution’s job is to trigger the right method at the right point in a schedule, and to move the plate in and out for a robot.

• Run stored method — execute a method already saved on the instrument, by name, under a run label that identifies the result set
• Run method from file — execute a method from a .xml method file, under a run label. A relative path is resolved against the driver’s configured method-files folder
• Run open kinetic method from file — execute a kinetic method for an explicit number of cycles, in a named workspace. Use this when the schedule, not the method, decides how long the kinetic run continues
• Plate in / plate out — move the plate carrier in and out, so a robot can load and unload the reader
• Cancel method — abort the measurement in progress

Integration

Revolution talks to SparkControl through its automation SDK, but not in-process. The SDK is hosted in a separate 64-bit WCF service on the instrument PC, and the driver connects to that service over HTTP. This is deliberate: it keeps the vendor SDK’s static lifecycle and its private logging out of the Revolution core process, so an SDK fault cannot take the scheduler with it.

Prerequisites

• SparkControl must be installed on the instrument PC first. The Revolution host is deployed into SparkControl’s own Clients folder and runs from there, alongside the Tecan-supplied client libraries. Setup will not proceed without it.
• The WCF host must be running before the device is initialised in Revolution. It stays running for as long as Revolution needs the instrument.

Device configuration

Property	Purpose
URL	Address the WCF host serves on. Must match the host’s own configuration exactly
Instrument Alias	Preferred identifier — a substring of the Spark’s alias in SparkControl, matched case-insensitively
Serial Number Filter	Fallback identifier, used when alias lookup does not resolve
Method Files Folder	Optional. The folder that relative method-file paths are resolved against

More than one Spark on the same PC

Each instrument needs its own host instance on its own port, and each Revolution device’s URL must point at the matching port. The two are configured separately and must agree — if they diverge, the driver cannot reach its host.

If you need more of this instrument driven from a schedule, get in touch — the driver is extended on demand.