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openScopes Connect Africa (OSCA) Traveller

Microscope

A modular, open-source digital microscopy platform for brightfield and fluorescence imaging—portable, field-ready, and designed for rapid setup in research environments.

The openScope Traveller (or just the Traveller) is a modular, open-source digital microscopy platform designed to provide accessible, field-deployable imaging capabilities for research and teaching. It supports both brightfield and fluorescence imaging modalities, and can be configured for advanced time-lapse acquisitions. The Traveller has been engineered for portability, rapid setup, and reliable operation in both laboratory and field settings.

The Traveller is adapted from the openFrame microscope, a modular and cost-effective platform developed around open-hardware principles. At its core, the openFrame architecture uses stackable cylindrical aluminum layers aligned along a central optical axis. This modular design provides a flexible framework that can accommodate both standard and specialised microscope components. The architecture also makes it straightforward to interface with external optical cage assemblies, offering users an extended range of experimental configurations.

By maintaining compatibility with open-source software tools such as Micro-Manager and ImageJ/Fiji, openFrame-based microscopes remain easy to maintain, simple to upgrade, and adaptable to most light microscopy techniques. This ensures that Traveller users benefit from both hardware modularity and software flexibility.

Key Features

  • Portable (fits two Pelican cases)
  • Modular optical/illumination design (filter cubes, stackable layers)
  • Preconfigured software (Micro‑Manager)
  • Brightfield & fluorescence imaging; time-lapse capable

Traveller Manual

The openScope Traveller Imaging Platform User Guide and Assembly Manual may be found here: User Guide and Assembly Manual

See the following pages for more information on the openScopes ecosystem:

Compliance & Purpose

  • IEEE 1063 Software User Documentation
  • ISO/IEC 82079‑1 Instructions for use
  • ISO/IEC 26514 Documentation for end users

Intended audience: microscopy specialists, technical staff, researchers.

Acknowledgements

The development of the Traveller was carried out by Fraser Montandon, Jasmin Knopp, and Caron Jacobs.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) and the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town, and the Wellcome Trust.

We also thank the many testers and early users who contributed feedback during the iterative development of this system, helping to improve usability, reliability, and field readiness.

We further recognise the broader open-source microscopy and scientific imaging communities, whose contributions continue to inspire accessible and modular imaging solutions.

This work builds upon the collaborative spirit exemplified by the openScopes project, conceived by Paul French and colleagues at Imperial College London, which has set a benchmark for open, reproducible, and low-cost scientific instrumentation.

!!! tip "Getting Started" Start with the Quickstart guide to begin using the Traveller.