polishing paper

Author: prathameshnium

paper/paper.bib

@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ @article{hunter2007matplotlib
 	pages = {90--95},
 }
 
-@misc{pandas2025,
-	title = {pandas-dev/pandas: {Pandas}},
+@software{pandas2025,
+	title = {{pandas}: Python Data Analysis Library},
 	copyright = {BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License},
 	shorttitle = {pandas-dev/pandas},
 	url = {https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.3509134},
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ @misc{pandas2025
 }
 
 
-@misc{pymeasure_2025,
+@software{pymeasure_2025,
 	title = {{PyMeasure}},
 	copyright = {MIT License},
 	url = {https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.595633},

paper/paper.md

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ bibliography: paper.bib
 
 High-precision, low-noise transport measurements are essential for advancing research in spintronics and materials characterisation. To enable such progress, highly precise and accurate automation software is required. PICA (Python-based Instrument Control and Automation) is a modular open-source software suite designed to automate advanced transport measurements for electronic devices and material samples. PICA is designed as a versatile framework capable of operating on any standard laboratory workstation. 
 It provides an extensible, unified graphical user interface (GUI)-based standalone program to coordinate high-precision instruments, specifically ultra-low current source (DC/AC) units, nanovoltmeters, high-resistance electrometers, impedance analyser, and temperature controllers. Built on the robust Python scientific ecosystem, PICA leverages community standard libraries as an alternative to licensed commercial software for instrument control.
-By utilising `threading` and `multiprocessing` capabilities, PICA ensures that the entire hardware ecosystem functions seamlessly and as a single cohesive unit. This allows the system to perform automated protocols, including temperature-dependent wide ranges of resistance measurement ($10^{-8}$ - $10^{16}$ Ω), current-voltage (I-V) characterisation, capacitance characterisation and pyroelectric current measurement and to orchestrate measurements under varying magnetic fields and temperatures without requiring physical reconfiguration of the measurement setups. 
+By utilising `threading` and `multiprocessing` capabilities, PICA ensures that the entire hardware ecosystem functions seamlessly and as a single cohesive unit. This allows the system to perform automated protocols, including temperature-dependent wide ranges of resistance measurement ($10^{-8}$ - $10^{16}$ Ω), current-voltage (I-V) characterisation, capacitance characterisation and pyroelectric current measurement, and orchestrate measurements under varying magnetic fields and temperatures without requiring physical reconfiguration of the measurement setups. 
 
 
 # Statement of need
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ PICA addresses this gap by functioning as a turnkey application rather than as a
 PICA’s architecture is designed to be highly configurable, enabling users to readily adapt it to their specific requirements and to implement user‑defined protocols in addition to the standard measurement protocols already provided. It eliminates the need for reconfiguring the measurement setup to achieve comprehensive characterisation, enabling continuous operation across the full range from ultra-low-resistance measurements (with the current reversal technique effectively removing constant offsets and improving the signal-to-noise ratio) for superconductors to high-impedance electrometric measurements for high-band gap insulators (covering 24 orders of magnitude in resistance), using a single unified framework.
 Pyroelectric measurement performed using an electrometer enables a highly sensitive characterisation of ferroelectric phase transitions by detecting extremely small pyroelectric currents, with a resolution on the order of $10^{-15}$ A. The impedance analyser enables the characterisation of capacitance anomalies over the frequency range from 20 Hz to 2 MHz and is utilised for magnetocapacitance and photoinduced characterisation across a wide variety of multiferroic systems. Thus, the primary objective of PICA is to serve as a robust software platform that enables advanced high‑precision characterisation of materials.
 
-The system is currently validated with scientific benchmark SMU hardware, including the AC-DC current source (Model: 6221, Keithley), the Nanovoltmeter (Model: 2182, Keithley), the Electrometer (Model: 6517B, Keithley), the DC Source Measure Unit (Model: 2400, Keithley), the impedance analyser (Model: E4980A, Keysight), and the temperature controller (Model: 350/340, Lakeshore). While the current implementation drives specific instruments, the underlying framework is highly customisable. Researchers using different hardware models need only replace the specific SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) commands with their instrument equivalent commands to utilise the suite.
+The system is currently validated with scientific benchmark SMU (Source Measure Unit) hardware, including the AC-DC current source (Model: 6221, Keithley), the Nanovoltmeter (Model: 2182, Keithley), the Electrometer (Model: 6517B, Keithley), the DC Source Measure Unit (Model: 2400, Keithley), the impedance analyser (Model: E4980A, Keysight), and the temperature controller (Model: 350/340, Lakeshore). While the current implementation drives specific instruments, the underlying framework is highly customisable. Researchers using different hardware models need only replace the specific SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments) commands with their instrument equivalent commands to utilise the suite.
 
 It differentiates itself through the following unique features:
 
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ PICA utilises **PyVISA** [@grecco2023pyvisa] to abstract the low-level communica
 
 3.  **Graceful Shutdown:** A "Safety Shutdown Routine" logic ensures that sources are ramped down to zero and heaters are disabled safely, even if the software is interrupted unexpectedly.
 
-### Testing
+### Testing and Simulation
 
 To ensure measurement reliability, all of these modules were thoroughly tested with the corresponding hardware. Additionally, to facilitate development without constant access to physical instruments, PICA includes a testing suite that uses `pytest`. The suite employs `unittest.mock` to simulate VISA resources, allowing verification of backend logic streams, class structure, and command sequences in a continuous integration environment.