Scientists use complex instruments - such as multi-million-dollar microscopes - to collect data in fields such as biology, physics, and environmental science. However, key details about how those instruments were set up or used are often missing. That makes it difficult for others to replicate experiments or build upon the results.

The project addresses this challenge by creating clear, standardized records of the equipment used in research. These records, known as Persistent Hardware Descriptors (PHDs), are stored permanently and can be directly linked to scientific data and publications. This makes it easier for others to trust, verify, and reuse that data.

As a proof of concept, the Imaging-PHD project is building a scalable cyberinfrastructure framework to capture, store, and disseminate persistent and machine-actionable metadata describing microscopy hardware configurations at the time of data acquisition.