ICALEPCS2011 - List of Authors (Jacobsson, R.)

Paper

Title

Page

The LHCb Experiment Control System: on the Path to Full Automation

20

C. Gaspar, F. Alessio, L.G. Cardoso, M. Frank, J.C. Garnier, R. Jacobsson, B. Jost, N. Neufeld, R. Schwemmer, E. van Herwijnen
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
O. Callot
LAL, Orsay, France
B. Franek
STFC/RAL, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom

LHCb is a large experiment at the LHC accelerator. The experiment control system is in charge of the configuration, control and monitoring of the different sub-detectors and of all areas of the online system: the Detector Control System (DCS), sub-detector's voltages, cooling, temperatures, etc.; the Data Acquisition System (DAQ), and the Run-Control; the High Level Trigger (HLT), a farm of around 1500 PCs running trigger algorithms; etc. The building blocks of the control system are based on the PVSS SCADA System complemented by a control Framework developed in common for the 4 LHC experiments. This framework includes an "expert system" like tool called SMI++ which we use for the system automation. The full control system runs distributed over around 160 PCs and is logically organised in a hierarchical structure, each level being capable of supervising and synchronizing the objects below. The experiment's operations are now almost completely automated driven by a top-level object called Big-Brother which pilots all the experiment's standard procedures and the most common error-recovery procedures. Some examples of automated procedures are: powering the detector, acting on the Run-Control (Start/Stop Run, etc.) and moving the vertex detector in/out of the beam, all driven by the state of the accelerator or recovering from errors in the HLT farm. The architecture, tools and mechanisms used for the implementation as well as some operational examples will be shown.

Slides MOBAUST06 [1.451 MB]

MOPMN028

Automated Voltage Control in LHCb

304

L.G. Cardoso, C. Gaspar, R. Jacobsson
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

LHCb is one of the 4 LHC experiments. In order to ensure the safety of the detector and to maximize efficiency, LHCb needs to coordinate its own operations, in particular the voltage configuration of the different sub-detectors, according to the accelerator status. A control software has been developed for this purpose, based on the Finite State Machine toolkit and the SCADA system used for control throughout LHCb (and the other LHC experiments). This software permits to efficiently drive both the Low Voltage (LV) and High Voltage (HV) systems of the 10 different sub-detectors that constitute LHCb, setting each sub-system to the required voltage (easily configurable at run-time) based on the accelerator state. The control software is also responsible for monitoring the state of the Sub-detector voltages and adding it to the event data in the form of status-bits. Safe and yet flexible operation of the LHCb detector has been obtained and automatic actions, triggered by the state changes of the accelerator, have been implemented. This paper will detail the implementation of the voltage control software, its flexible run-time configuration and its usage in the LHCb experiment.

Poster MOPMN028 [0.479 MB]

Paper	Title	Page
MOBAUST06	The LHCb Experiment Control System: on the Path to Full Automation	20
	C. Gaspar, F. Alessio, L.G. Cardoso, M. Frank, J.C. Garnier, R. Jacobsson, B. Jost, N. Neufeld, R. Schwemmer, E. van Herwijnen CERN, Geneva, Switzerland O. Callot LAL, Orsay, France B. Franek STFC/RAL, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
	LHCb is a large experiment at the LHC accelerator. The experiment control system is in charge of the configuration, control and monitoring of the different sub-detectors and of all areas of the online system: the Detector Control System (DCS), sub-detector's voltages, cooling, temperatures, etc.; the Data Acquisition System (DAQ), and the Run-Control; the High Level Trigger (HLT), a farm of around 1500 PCs running trigger algorithms; etc. The building blocks of the control system are based on the PVSS SCADA System complemented by a control Framework developed in common for the 4 LHC experiments. This framework includes an "expert system" like tool called SMI++ which we use for the system automation. The full control system runs distributed over around 160 PCs and is logically organised in a hierarchical structure, each level being capable of supervising and synchronizing the objects below. The experiment's operations are now almost completely automated driven by a top-level object called Big-Brother which pilots all the experiment's standard procedures and the most common error-recovery procedures. Some examples of automated procedures are: powering the detector, acting on the Run-Control (Start/Stop Run, etc.) and moving the vertex detector in/out of the beam, all driven by the state of the accelerator or recovering from errors in the HLT farm. The architecture, tools and mechanisms used for the implementation as well as some operational examples will be shown.
	Slides MOBAUST06 [1.451 MB]

MOPMN028	Automated Voltage Control in LHCb	304
	L.G. Cardoso, C. Gaspar, R. Jacobsson CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	LHCb is one of the 4 LHC experiments. In order to ensure the safety of the detector and to maximize efficiency, LHCb needs to coordinate its own operations, in particular the voltage configuration of the different sub-detectors, according to the accelerator status. A control software has been developed for this purpose, based on the Finite State Machine toolkit and the SCADA system used for control throughout LHCb (and the other LHC experiments). This software permits to efficiently drive both the Low Voltage (LV) and High Voltage (HV) systems of the 10 different sub-detectors that constitute LHCb, setting each sub-system to the required voltage (easily configurable at run-time) based on the accelerator state. The control software is also responsible for monitoring the state of the Sub-detector voltages and adding it to the event data in the form of status-bits. Safe and yet flexible operation of the LHCb detector has been obtained and automatic actions, triggered by the state changes of the accelerator, have been implemented. This paper will detail the implementation of the voltage control software, its flexible run-time configuration and its usage in the LHCb experiment.
	Poster MOPMN028 [0.479 MB]