ICALEPCS2013 - List of Keywords (neutron)

Paper	Title	Other Keywords	Page
MOPPC084	ESS Integrated Control System and the Agile Methodology	controls, software, feedback, target	296
	M. Reščič Cosylab, Ljubljana, Slovenia L. Fernandez ESS, Lund, Sweden
	The stakeholders of the ESS Integrated Control System (ICS) reside in four parts of the ESS machine: accelerator, target, neutron instruments and conventional facilities. ICS plans to meet the stakeholders’ needs early in the Construction phase, to accelerate and facilitate the Commissioning process by providing and delivering required tools earlier. This introduces the risk that stakeholders will not have had the full set of information required available early enough for the development of the interfacing systems (e.g. missing requirements, undecided design etc.) In order for ICS to accomplish its objectives it is needed to establish a development process that allows a quick adaptation to any change in the requirements with a minimum impact in the execution of the projects. Agile Methodology is well known for its ability to adapt quickly to change, as well as for involving users in the development process and producing working and reliable software from a very early stage in the project. The paper will present the plans, the tools, the organization of the team and the preliminary results of the setup work.

MOPPC101	The Control Architecture of Large Scientific Facilities: ITER and LHC lessons for IFMIF	controls, interface, network, EPICS	344
	A. Marqueta Barbero, J. Knaster, K. Nishiyama IFMIF/EVEDA, Rokkasho, Japan A. Ibarra CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain A. Vergara-Fernandez, A. Wallander ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France M. Zerlauth CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The development of an intense source of neutrons with the spectrum of DT fusion reactions is indispensable to qualify suitable materials for the First Wall of the nuclear vessel in fusion power plants. The FW, overlap of different layers, is essential in future reactors; they will convert the 14 MeV of neutrons to thermal energy and generate T to feed the DT reactions. IFMIF will reproduce those irradiation conditions with two parallel 40 MeV CW deuteron Linacs, at 2x125 mA beam current, colliding on a 25 mm thick Li screen flowing at 15 m/s and producing a n flux of 10¹⁸ m2/s in 500 cm³ volume with a broad peak energy at 14 MeV. The design of the control architecture of a large scientific facility is dependent on the particularities of the processes in place or the volume of data generated; but it is also tied to project management issues. LHC and ITER are two complex facilities, with ~10⁶ process variables, with different control systems strategies, from the modular approach of CODAC, to the more integrated implementation of CERN Technical Network. This paper analyzes both solutions, and extracts conclusions that shall be applied to the future control architecture of IFMIF.
	Poster MOPPC101 [0.297 MB]

TUCOBAB02	The Mantid Project: Notes from an International Software Collaboration	framework, software, interface, distributed	502
	N.J. Draper Tessella, Abingdon, United Kingdom
	Funding: This project is a collaboration between SNS, ORNL and ISIS, RAL with expertise supplied by Tessella. These facilities are in turn funded by the US DoE and the UK STFC. The Mantid project was started by ISIS in 2007 to provide a framework to perform data reduction and analysis for neutron and muon data. The SNS and HFIR joined the Mantid project in 2009 adding event processing and other capabilities to the Mantid framework. The Mantid software is now supporting the data reduction needs of most of the instruments at ISIS, the SNS and some at HFIR, and is being evaluated by other facilities. The scope of data reduction and analysis challenges, together with the need to create a cross platform solution, fuels the need for Mantid to be developed in collaboration between facilities. Mantid has from inception been an open source project, built to be flexible enough to be instrument and technique independent, and initially planned to support collaboration with other development teams. Through the collaboration with the SNS development practices and tools have been further developed to support the distributed development team in this challenge. This talk will describe the building and structure of the collaboration, the stumbling blocks we have overcome, and the great steps we have made in building a solid collaboration between these facilities. Mantid project website: www.mantidproject.org ISIS: http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/ SNS & HFIR: http://neutrons.ornl.gov/
	Slides TUCOBAB02 [1.280 MB]

TUMIB04	Migrating to an EPICS Based Instrument Control System at the ISIS Spallation Neutron Source	controls, EPICS, software, LabView	525
	F.A. Akeroyd, K. V. L. Baker, M.J. Clarke, G.D. Howells, D.P. Keymer, K.J. Knowles, C. Moreton-Smith STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom K. Woods Tessella, Abingdon, United Kingdom
	The beamline instruments at the ISIS spallation neutron source have been running successfully for many years using an in-house developed control system. The advent of new instruments and the desire for more complex experiments has led to a project being created to determine how best to meet these challenges. Though it would be possible to enhance the existing system, migrating to an EPICS-based system offers many advantages in terms of flexibility, software reuse and the potential for collaboration. While EPICS is well established for accelerator and synchrotron beamline control, is it not currently widely used for neutron instruments, but this is changing. The new control system is being developed to initially run in parallel with the existing system, a first version being scheduled for testing on two newly constructed instruments starting summer 2013. In this paper, we will discuss the design and implementation of the new control system, including how our existing National Instruments LabVIEW controlled equipment was integrated, and issues that we encountered during the migration process.
	Slides TUMIB04 [0.098 MB]
	Poster TUMIB04 [0.315 MB]

TUMIB05	ANSTO, Australian Synchrotron, Metadata Catalogues and the Australian National Data Service	database, synchrotron, data-management, experiment	529
	N. Hauser, S. Wimalaratne ANSTO, Menai, Australia C.U. Felzmann SLSA, Clayton, Australia
	Data citation, management and discovery are important to ANSTO, the Australian Synchrotron and the scientists that use them. Gone are the days when raw data is written to a removable media and subsequently lost. The metadata catalogue *MyTardis is being used by both ANSTO and the Australian Synchrotron. Metadata is harvested from the neutron beam and X-ray instruments raw experimental files and catalogued in databases that are local to the facilities. The data is accessible via a web portal. Data policies are applied to embargo data prior to placing data in the public domain. Public domain data is published to the Australian Research Data Commons using the OAI-PMH standard. The Commons is run by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), who was the project sponsor. The Commons is a web robot friendly site. ANDS also sponsors digital object identifiers (DOI) for deposited datasets, which allows raw data to now be a first class research output, allowing scientists that collect data to gain recognition in the same way as those who publish journal articles. Data is being discovered, cited, reused and collaborations initiated through the Commons.
	Slides TUMIB05 [1.623 MB]
	Poster TUMIB05 [1.135 MB]

TUPPC008	A New Flexible Integration of NeXus Datasets to ANKA by Fuse File Systems	software, synchrotron, detector, Linux	566
	W. Mexner, E. Iurchenko, H. Pasic, D. Ressmann, T. Spangenberg KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany
	In the high data rate initiative (HDRI) german accelerator and neutron facilities of the Helmholtz Association agreed to use NeXus as a common data format. The synchrotron radiation source ANKA decided in 2012 to introduce NeXus as common data format for all beam lines. Nevertheless it is a challenging work to integrate a new data format in existing data processing work flows. Scientists rely on existing data evaluation kits which require specific data formats. To solve this obstacle, for linux a filesystem in userspace (FUSE) was developed, allowing to mount NeXus-Files as a filesystem. Easy in XML configurable filter rules allow a very flexible view to the data. Tomography data frames can be directly accessed as TIFF files by any standard picture viewer or scan data can be presented as a virtual ASCII file compatible to spec.

TUPPC047	The New TANGO-based Control and Data Acquisition System of the GISAXS Instrument GALAXI at Forschungszentrum Jülich	TANGO, controls, software, detector	673
	H. Kleines, A. Ackens, M. Bednarek, K. Bussmann, M. Drochner, L. Fleischhauer-Fuss, M. Heinzler, P. Kaemmerling, F.-J. Kayser, S. Kirstein, K.-H. Mertens, R. Möller, U. Rücker, F. Suxdorf, M. Wagener, S. van Waasen FZJ, Jülich, Germany
	Forschungszentrum Jülich operated the SAXS instrument JUSIFA at DESY in Hamburg for more than twenty years. With the shutdown of the DORIS ring JUSIFA was relocated to Jülich. Based on most JUSIFA components (with major mechanical modifications) and a MetalJet high performance X-Ray source from Bruker AXS the new GISAXS instrument GALAXI was built by JCNS (Jülich Centre for Neutron Science). GALAXI was equipped with new electronics and a completely new control and data acquisition system by ZEA-2 (Zentralinstitut für Engineering, Elektronik und Analytik 2 – Systeme der Elektronik, formely ZEL). On the base of good experience with the TACO control system, ZEA-2 decided that GALAXI should be the first instrument of Forschungszentrum Jülich with the successor system TANGO. The application software on top of TANGO is based on pyfrid. Pyfrid was originally developed for the neutron scattering instruments of JCNS and provides a scripting interface as well as a Web GUI. The design of the new control and data acquisition system is presented and the lessons learned by the introduction of TANGO are reported.

TUPPC067	A Distributed Remote Monitoring System for ISIS Sample Environment	controls, monitoring, EPICS, instrumentation	733
	M.R.W. North, G.L. Burgess STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
	The benefits of remote monitoring in industrial and manufacturing plants are well documented and equally applicable to scientific research facilities. This paper highlights the benefits of implementing a distributed monitoring system for sample environment equipment and instrumentation at the ISIS Neutron & Muon source facility. The upcoming implementation of an EPICS replacement for the existing beamline control system provides a timely opportunity to integrate operational monitoring and diagnostic capabilities with minimal overheads. The ISIS facility located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory UK is the most productive research centre of its type in the world supporting a national and international community of more than 2000 scientists using neutrons and muons for research into materials and life sciences.
	Poster TUPPC067 [0.821 MB]

TUPPC076	SNS Instrument Data Acquisition and Controls	controls, EPICS, interface, data-acquisition	755
	S.M. Hartman ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
	Funding: SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 for the U. S. Department of Energy. The data acquisition (DAQ) and control systems for the neutron beam line instruments at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) are undergoing upgrades addressing three critical areas: data throughput and data handling from DAQ to data analysis, instrument controls including user interface and experiment automation, and the low-level electronics for DAQ and timing. This paper will outline the status of the upgrades and will address some of the challenges in implementing fundamental upgrades to an operating facility concurrent with commissioning of existing beam lines and construction of new beam lines.

TUPPC077	Experiment Automation with a Robot Arm Using the Liquids Reflectometer Instrument at the Spallation Neutron Source	alignment, controls, experiment, target	759
	B. Vacaliuc, G.C. Greene, A.A. Parizzi, M. Sundaram ORNL RAD, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA J.F. Ankner, J.F. Browning, C.E. Halbert, M.C. Hoffmann, P. Zolnierczuk ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
	Funding: U.S. Government under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC, which manages the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Liquids Reflectometer instrument installed at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) enables observations of chemical kinetics, solid-state reactions and phase-transitions of thin film materials at both solid and liquid surfaces. Effective measurement of these behaviors requires each sample to be calibrated dynamically using the neutron beam and the data acquisition system in a feedback loop. Since the SNS is an intense neutron source, the time needed to perform the measurement can be the same as the alignment process, leading to a labor-intensive operation that is exhausting to users. An update to the instrument control system, completed in March 2013, implemented the key features of automated sample alignment and robot-driven sample management, allowing for unattended operation over extended periods, lasting as long as 20 hours. We present a case study of the effort, detailing the mechanical, electrical and software modifications that were made as well as the lessons learned during the integration, verification and testing process.
	Poster TUPPC077 [17.799 MB]

TUPPC078	First EPICS/CSS Based Instrument Control and Acquisition System at ORNL	controls, EPICS, experiment, interface	763
	X. Geng, X.H. Chen, K.-U. Kasemir ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
	Funding: SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 for the U.S. Department of Energy The neutron imaging prototype beamline (CG-1D) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is used for many different applications necessitating a flexible and stable instrument control system. Beamline scientists expect a robust data acquisition system. They need a clear and concise user interface that allows them to both configure an experiment and to monitor an ongoing experiment run. Idle time between acquiring consecutive images must be minimized. To achieve these goals, we implement a system based upon EPICS, a newly developed CSS scan system, and CSS BOY. This paper presents the system architecture and possible future plans.
	Poster TUPPC078 [6.846 MB]

TUPPC083	FPGA Implementation of a Digital Constant Fraction for Fast Timing Studies in the Picosecond Range	detector, FPGA, timing, real-time	774
	P. Mutti, J. Ratel, F. Rey, E. Ruiz-Martinez ILL, Grenoble, France
	Thermal or cold neutron capture on different fission systems is an excellent method to produce a variety of very neutron-rich nuclei. Since neutrons at these energies bring in the reaction just enough energy to produce fission, the fragments remain neutron-rich due to the negligible neutron evaporation thus allowing detailed nuclear structure studies. In 2012 and 2013 a combination of EXOGAM, GASP and Lohengrin germanium detectors has been installed at the PF1B cold neutron beam of the Institut Laue-Langevin. The present paper describes the digital acquisition system used to collect information on all gamma rays emitted by the decaying nuclei. Data have been acquired in a trigger-less mode to preserve a maximum of information for further off-line treatment with a total throughput of about 10 MByte/sec. Special emphasis is devoted to the FPGA implementation of an on-line digital constant fraction algorithm allowing fast timing studies in the pico second range.
	Poster TUPPC083 [9.928 MB]

TUCOCA05	EPICS-based Control System for a Radiation Therapy Machine	EPICS, controls, database, cyclotron	922
	J.P. Jacky University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, USA
	The clinical neutron therapy system (CNTS) at the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) has been treating patients since 1984. Its new control system retains the original safety philosophy and delegation of functions among nonprogrammable hardware, PLCs, microcomputers with programs in ROM, and finally general-purpose computers. The latter are used only for data-intensive, prescription-specific functions. For these, a new EPICS-based control program replaces a locally-developed C program used since 1999. The therapy control portion uses a single soft IOC for control and a single EDM session for the operator's console. Prescriptions are retrieved from a PostgreSQL database and loaded into the IOC by a Python program; another Python program stores treatment records from the IOC back into the database. The system remains safe if the general-purpose computers or their programs crash or stop producing results. Different programs at different stages of the computation check for invalid data. Development activities including formal specifications and automated testing avoid, then check for, design and programming errors.
	Slides TUCOCA05 [0.175 MB]

THPPC025	The Interaction between Safety Interlock and Motion Control Systems on the Dingo Radiography Instrument at the OPAL Research Reactor	collimation, controls, shielding, radiation	1141
	P.N. Barron, D. Bartlett ANSTO, Menai, Australia
	A neutron radiography/tomography instrument (Dingo) has recently been commissioned at the Bragg Institute, ANSTO. It utilizes thermal beam HB2 of the OPAL research reactor with flux up to 4.75 x 10⁷ neutrons cm^-2 s⁻¹ at the sample. One component of the instrument is a 2.5 tonne selector wheel filled with a wax/steel shielding mixture which requires complex interaction between the safety interlock and motion control systems. It provides six apertures which are equipped with various neutron beam optics plus a solid ‘shutter’ section to block the beam. A standardized Galil based motion system precisely controls the movement of the wheel while a Pilz safety PLC specifies the desired position and handles other safety aspects of the instrument. A shielded absolute SSI encoder is employed to give high accuracy feedback on the position in conjunction with a number or limit switches. This paper details the challenges of creating a motion system with inherent safety, verifying the wheel meets specifications and the considerations in selecting components to withstand high radiation environments.
	Poster THPPC025 [1.929 MB]

THPPC112	The LANSCE Timing Reference Generator	timing, controls, EPICS, interface	1321
	R.B. Merl, S.A. Baily, E. Björklund, R.C. Clanton, F.E. Shelley LANL, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
	The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is an 800 MeV linear proton accelerator at Los Alamos National Laboratory. For optimum performance, power modulators must be tightly coupled to the phase of the power grid. Downstream at the neutron scattering center there is a competing requirement that rotating choppers follow the changing phase of neutron production in order to remove unwanted energy components from the beam. While their powerful motors are actively accelerated and decelerated to track accelerator timing, they cannot track instantaneous grid phase changes. A new timing reference generator has been designed to couple the accelerator to the power grid through a phase locked loop. This allows some slip between the phase of the grid and the accelerator so that the modulators stay within their timing margins, but the demands on the choppers are relaxed. This new timing reference generator is implemented in 64 bit floating point math in an FPGA. Operators in the control room have real-time network control over the AC zero crossing offset, maximum allowed drift, and slew rate - the parameter that determines how tightly the phase of the accelerator is coupled to the power grid. LA-UR-13-21289

Paper

Title

Other Keywords

Page

MOPPC084

ESS Integrated Control System and the Agile Methodology

controls, software, feedback, target

296

M. Reščič
Cosylab, Ljubljana, Slovenia
L. Fernandez
ESS, Lund, Sweden

The stakeholders of the ESS Integrated Control System (ICS) reside in four parts of the ESS machine: accelerator, target, neutron instruments and conventional facilities. ICS plans to meet the stakeholders’ needs early in the Construction phase, to accelerate and facilitate the Commissioning process by providing and delivering required tools earlier. This introduces the risk that stakeholders will not have had the full set of information required available early enough for the development of the interfacing systems (e.g. missing requirements, undecided design etc.) In order for ICS to accomplish its objectives it is needed to establish a development process that allows a quick adaptation to any change in the requirements with a minimum impact in the execution of the projects. Agile Methodology is well known for its ability to adapt quickly to change, as well as for involving users in the development process and producing working and reliable software from a very early stage in the project. The paper will present the plans, the tools, the organization of the team and the preliminary results of the setup work.

MOPPC101

The Control Architecture of Large Scientific Facilities: ITER and LHC lessons for IFMIF

controls, interface, network, EPICS

344

A. Marqueta Barbero, J. Knaster, K. Nishiyama
IFMIF/EVEDA, Rokkasho, Japan
A. Ibarra
CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain
A. Vergara-Fernandez, A. Wallander
ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France
M. Zerlauth
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The development of an intense source of neutrons with the spectrum of DT fusion reactions is indispensable to qualify suitable materials for the First Wall of the nuclear vessel in fusion power plants. The FW, overlap of different layers, is essential in future reactors; they will convert the 14 MeV of neutrons to thermal energy and generate T to feed the DT reactions. IFMIF will reproduce those irradiation conditions with two parallel 40 MeV CW deuteron Linacs, at 2x125 mA beam current, colliding on a 25 mm thick Li screen flowing at 15 m/s and producing a n flux of 10¹⁸ m2/s in 500 cm³ volume with a broad peak energy at 14 MeV. The design of the control architecture of a large scientific facility is dependent on the particularities of the processes in place or the volume of data generated; but it is also tied to project management issues. LHC and ITER are two complex facilities, with ~10⁶ process variables, with different control systems strategies, from the modular approach of CODAC, to the more integrated implementation of CERN Technical Network. This paper analyzes both solutions, and extracts conclusions that shall be applied to the future control architecture of IFMIF.

Poster MOPPC101 [0.297 MB]

TUCOBAB02

The Mantid Project: Notes from an International Software Collaboration

framework, software, interface, distributed

502

N.J. Draper
Tessella, Abingdon, United Kingdom

Funding: This project is a collaboration between SNS, ORNL and ISIS, RAL with expertise supplied by Tessella. These facilities are in turn funded by the US DoE and the UK STFC.
The Mantid project was started by ISIS in 2007 to provide a framework to perform data reduction and analysis for neutron and muon data. The SNS and HFIR joined the Mantid project in 2009 adding event processing and other capabilities to the Mantid framework. The Mantid software is now supporting the data reduction needs of most of the instruments at ISIS, the SNS and some at HFIR, and is being evaluated by other facilities. The scope of data reduction and analysis challenges, together with the need to create a cross platform solution, fuels the need for Mantid to be developed in collaboration between facilities. Mantid has from inception been an open source project, built to be flexible enough to be instrument and technique independent, and initially planned to support collaboration with other development teams. Through the collaboration with the SNS development practices and tools have been further developed to support the distributed development team in this challenge. This talk will describe the building and structure of the collaboration, the stumbling blocks we have overcome, and the great steps we have made in building a solid collaboration between these facilities.
Mantid project website: www.mantidproject.org
ISIS: http://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/
SNS & HFIR: http://neutrons.ornl.gov/

Slides TUCOBAB02 [1.280 MB]

TUMIB04

Migrating to an EPICS Based Instrument Control System at the ISIS Spallation Neutron Source

controls, EPICS, software, LabView

525

F.A. Akeroyd, K. V. L. Baker, M.J. Clarke, G.D. Howells, D.P. Keymer, K.J. Knowles, C. Moreton-Smith
STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
K. Woods
Tessella, Abingdon, United Kingdom

The beamline instruments at the ISIS spallation neutron source have been running successfully for many years using an in-house developed control system. The advent of new instruments and the desire for more complex experiments has led to a project being created to determine how best to meet these challenges. Though it would be possible to enhance the existing system, migrating to an EPICS-based system offers many advantages in terms of flexibility, software reuse and the potential for collaboration. While EPICS is well established for accelerator and synchrotron beamline control, is it not currently widely used for neutron instruments, but this is changing. The new control system is being developed to initially run in parallel with the existing system, a first version being scheduled for testing on two newly constructed instruments starting summer 2013. In this paper, we will discuss the design and implementation of the new control system, including how our existing National Instruments LabVIEW controlled equipment was integrated, and issues that we encountered during the migration process.

Slides TUMIB04 [0.098 MB]

Poster TUMIB04 [0.315 MB]

TUMIB05

ANSTO, Australian Synchrotron, Metadata Catalogues and the Australian National Data Service

database, synchrotron, data-management, experiment

529

N. Hauser, S. Wimalaratne
ANSTO, Menai, Australia
C.U. Felzmann
SLSA, Clayton, Australia

Data citation, management and discovery are important to ANSTO, the Australian Synchrotron and the scientists that use them. Gone are the days when raw data is written to a removable media and subsequently lost. The metadata catalogue *MyTardis is being used by both ANSTO and the Australian Synchrotron. Metadata is harvested from the neutron beam and X-ray instruments raw experimental files and catalogued in databases that are local to the facilities. The data is accessible via a web portal. Data policies are applied to embargo data prior to placing data in the public domain. Public domain data is published to the Australian Research Data Commons using the OAI-PMH standard. The Commons is run by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), who was the project sponsor. The Commons is a web robot friendly site. ANDS also sponsors digital object identifiers (DOI) for deposited datasets, which allows raw data to now be a first class research output, allowing scientists that collect data to gain recognition in the same way as those who publish journal articles. Data is being discovered, cited, reused and collaborations initiated through the Commons.

Slides TUMIB05 [1.623 MB]

Poster TUMIB05 [1.135 MB]

TUPPC008

A New Flexible Integration of NeXus Datasets to ANKA by Fuse File Systems

software, synchrotron, detector, Linux

566

W. Mexner, E. Iurchenko, H. Pasic, D. Ressmann, T. Spangenberg
KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany

In the high data rate initiative (HDRI) german accelerator and neutron facilities of the Helmholtz Association agreed to use NeXus as a common data format. The synchrotron radiation source ANKA decided in 2012 to introduce NeXus as common data format for all beam lines. Nevertheless it is a challenging work to integrate a new data format in existing data processing work flows. Scientists rely on existing data evaluation kits which require specific data formats. To solve this obstacle, for linux a filesystem in userspace (FUSE) was developed, allowing to mount NeXus-Files as a filesystem. Easy in XML configurable filter rules allow a very flexible view to the data. Tomography data frames can be directly accessed as TIFF files by any standard picture viewer or scan data can be presented as a virtual ASCII file compatible to spec.

TUPPC047

The New TANGO-based Control and Data Acquisition System of the GISAXS Instrument GALAXI at Forschungszentrum Jülich

TANGO, controls, software, detector

673

H. Kleines, A. Ackens, M. Bednarek, K. Bussmann, M. Drochner, L. Fleischhauer-Fuss, M. Heinzler, P. Kaemmerling, F.-J. Kayser, S. Kirstein, K.-H. Mertens, R. Möller, U. Rücker, F. Suxdorf, M. Wagener, S. van Waasen
FZJ, Jülich, Germany

Forschungszentrum Jülich operated the SAXS instrument JUSIFA at DESY in Hamburg for more than twenty years. With the shutdown of the DORIS ring JUSIFA was relocated to Jülich. Based on most JUSIFA components (with major mechanical modifications) and a MetalJet high performance X-Ray source from Bruker AXS the new GISAXS instrument GALAXI was built by JCNS (Jülich Centre for Neutron Science). GALAXI was equipped with new electronics and a completely new control and data acquisition system by ZEA-2 (Zentralinstitut für Engineering, Elektronik und Analytik 2 – Systeme der Elektronik, formely ZEL). On the base of good experience with the TACO control system, ZEA-2 decided that GALAXI should be the first instrument of Forschungszentrum Jülich with the successor system TANGO. The application software on top of TANGO is based on pyfrid. Pyfrid was originally developed for the neutron scattering instruments of JCNS and provides a scripting interface as well as a Web GUI. The design of the new control and data acquisition system is presented and the lessons learned by the introduction of TANGO are reported.

TUPPC067

A Distributed Remote Monitoring System for ISIS Sample Environment

controls, monitoring, EPICS, instrumentation

733

M.R.W. North, G.L. Burgess
STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom

The benefits of remote monitoring in industrial and manufacturing plants are well documented and equally applicable to scientific research facilities. This paper highlights the benefits of implementing a distributed monitoring system for sample environment equipment and instrumentation at the ISIS Neutron & Muon source facility. The upcoming implementation of an EPICS replacement for the existing beamline control system provides a timely opportunity to integrate operational monitoring and diagnostic capabilities with minimal overheads. The ISIS facility located at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory UK is the most productive research centre of its type in the world supporting a national and international community of more than 2000 scientists using neutrons and muons for research into materials and life sciences.

Poster TUPPC067 [0.821 MB]

TUPPC076

SNS Instrument Data Acquisition and Controls

controls, EPICS, interface, data-acquisition

755

S.M. Hartman
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

Funding: SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 for the U. S. Department of Energy.
The data acquisition (DAQ) and control systems for the neutron beam line instruments at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) are undergoing upgrades addressing three critical areas: data throughput and data handling from DAQ to data analysis, instrument controls including user interface and experiment automation, and the low-level electronics for DAQ and timing. This paper will outline the status of the upgrades and will address some of the challenges in implementing fundamental upgrades to an operating facility concurrent with commissioning of existing beam lines and construction of new beam lines.

TUPPC077

Experiment Automation with a Robot Arm Using the Liquids Reflectometer Instrument at the Spallation Neutron Source

alignment, controls, experiment, target

759

B. Vacaliuc, G.C. Greene, A.A. Parizzi, M. Sundaram
ORNL RAD, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
J.F. Ankner, J.F. Browning, C.E. Halbert, M.C. Hoffmann, P. Zolnierczuk
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

Funding: U.S. Government under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC, which manages the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Liquids Reflectometer instrument installed at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) enables observations of chemical kinetics, solid-state reactions and phase-transitions of thin film materials at both solid and liquid surfaces. Effective measurement of these behaviors requires each sample to be calibrated dynamically using the neutron beam and the data acquisition system in a feedback loop. Since the SNS is an intense neutron source, the time needed to perform the measurement can be the same as the alignment process, leading to a labor-intensive operation that is exhausting to users. An update to the instrument control system, completed in March 2013, implemented the key features of automated sample alignment and robot-driven sample management, allowing for unattended operation over extended periods, lasting as long as 20 hours. We present a case study of the effort, detailing the mechanical, electrical and software modifications that were made as well as the lessons learned during the integration, verification and testing process.

Poster TUPPC077 [17.799 MB]

TUPPC078

First EPICS/CSS Based Instrument Control and Acquisition System at ORNL

controls, EPICS, experiment, interface

763

X. Geng, X.H. Chen, K.-U. Kasemir
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

Funding: SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 for the U.S. Department of Energy
The neutron imaging prototype beamline (CG-1D) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is used for many different applications necessitating a flexible and stable instrument control system. Beamline scientists expect a robust data acquisition system. They need a clear and concise user interface that allows them to both configure an experiment and to monitor an ongoing experiment run. Idle time between acquiring consecutive images must be minimized. To achieve these goals, we implement a system based upon EPICS, a newly developed CSS scan system, and CSS BOY. This paper presents the system architecture and possible future plans.

Poster TUPPC078 [6.846 MB]

TUPPC083

FPGA Implementation of a Digital Constant Fraction for Fast Timing Studies in the Picosecond Range

detector, FPGA, timing, real-time

774

P. Mutti, J. Ratel, F. Rey, E. Ruiz-Martinez
ILL, Grenoble, France

Thermal or cold neutron capture on different fission systems is an excellent method to produce a variety of very neutron-rich nuclei. Since neutrons at these energies bring in the reaction just enough energy to produce fission, the fragments remain neutron-rich due to the negligible neutron evaporation thus allowing detailed nuclear structure studies. In 2012 and 2013 a combination of EXOGAM, GASP and Lohengrin germanium detectors has been installed at the PF1B cold neutron beam of the Institut Laue-Langevin. The present paper describes the digital acquisition system used to collect information on all gamma rays emitted by the decaying nuclei. Data have been acquired in a trigger-less mode to preserve a maximum of information for further off-line treatment with a total throughput of about 10 MByte/sec. Special emphasis is devoted to the FPGA implementation of an on-line digital constant fraction algorithm allowing fast timing studies in the pico second range.

Poster TUPPC083 [9.928 MB]

TUCOCA05

EPICS-based Control System for a Radiation Therapy Machine

EPICS, controls, database, cyclotron

922

J.P. Jacky
University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, USA

The clinical neutron therapy system (CNTS) at the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) has been treating patients since 1984. Its new control system retains the original safety philosophy and delegation of functions among nonprogrammable hardware, PLCs, microcomputers with programs in ROM, and finally general-purpose computers. The latter are used only for data-intensive, prescription-specific functions. For these, a new EPICS-based control program replaces a locally-developed C program used since 1999. The therapy control portion uses a single soft IOC for control and a single EDM session for the operator's console. Prescriptions are retrieved from a PostgreSQL database and loaded into the IOC by a Python program; another Python program stores treatment records from the IOC back into the database. The system remains safe if the general-purpose computers or their programs crash or stop producing results. Different programs at different stages of the computation check for invalid data. Development activities including formal specifications and automated testing avoid, then check for, design and programming errors.

Slides TUCOCA05 [0.175 MB]

THPPC025

The Interaction between Safety Interlock and Motion Control Systems on the Dingo Radiography Instrument at the OPAL Research Reactor

collimation, controls, shielding, radiation

1141

P.N. Barron, D. Bartlett
ANSTO, Menai, Australia

A neutron radiography/tomography instrument (Dingo) has recently been commissioned at the Bragg Institute, ANSTO. It utilizes thermal beam HB2 of the OPAL research reactor with flux up to 4.75 x 10⁷ neutrons cm^-2 s⁻¹ at the sample. One component of the instrument is a 2.5 tonne selector wheel filled with a wax/steel shielding mixture which requires complex interaction between the safety interlock and motion control systems. It provides six apertures which are equipped with various neutron beam optics plus a solid ‘shutter’ section to block the beam. A standardized Galil based motion system precisely controls the movement of the wheel while a Pilz safety PLC specifies the desired position and handles other safety aspects of the instrument. A shielded absolute SSI encoder is employed to give high accuracy feedback on the position in conjunction with a number or limit switches. This paper details the challenges of creating a motion system with inherent safety, verifying the wheel meets specifications and the considerations in selecting components to withstand high radiation environments.

Poster THPPC025 [1.929 MB]

THPPC112

The LANSCE Timing Reference Generator

timing, controls, EPICS, interface

1321

R.B. Merl, S.A. Baily, E. Björklund, R.C. Clanton, F.E. Shelley
LANL, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is an 800 MeV linear proton accelerator at Los Alamos National Laboratory. For optimum performance, power modulators must be tightly coupled to the phase of the power grid. Downstream at the neutron scattering center there is a competing requirement that rotating choppers follow the changing phase of neutron production in order to remove unwanted energy components from the beam. While their powerful motors are actively accelerated and decelerated to track accelerator timing, they cannot track instantaneous grid phase changes. A new timing reference generator has been designed to couple the accelerator to the power grid through a phase locked loop. This allows some slip between the phase of the grid and the accelerator so that the modulators stay within their timing margins, but the demands on the choppers are relaxed. This new timing reference generator is implemented in 64 bit floating point math in an FPGA. Operators in the control room have real-time network control over the AC zero crossing offset, maximum allowed drift, and slew rate - the parameter that determines how tightly the phase of the accelerator is coupled to the power grid.
LA-UR-13-21289