def clean_protocol(self, protocol):
        """
        A lot of measurement types make use of a protocol value, so we handle
        that here.
        """
        if protocol is not None:
            try:
                return self.PROTOCOL_MAP[protocol]
            except KeyError:
                self._handle_malformation(
                    '"{protocol}" is not a recognised protocol'.format(
                        protocol=protocol
                    )
                )