ICALEPCS2011 - List of Keywords (Linux)

Paper	Title	Other Keywords	Page
MOMAU007	How to Maintain Hundreds of Computers Offering Different Functionalities with Only Two System Administrators	controls, software, database, EPICS	56
	R.A. Krempaska, A.G. Bertrand, C.E. Higgs, R. Kapeller, H. Lutz, M. Provenzano Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
	The Controls section in PSI is responsible for the Control Systems of four Accelerators: two proton accelerators HIPA and PROSCAN, Swiss Light Source SLS and the Free Electron Laser (SwissFEL) Test Facility. On top of that, we have 18 additional SLS beamlines to control. The controls system is mainly composed of the so called Input Output Controllers (IOCs) which require a complete and complex computing infrastructure in order to boot, being developed, debugged and monitored. This infrastructure consists currently mainly of Linux computers like boot server, port server, or configuration server (called save and restore server). Overall, the constellation of computers and servers which compose the control system counts about five hundred Linux computers which can be split into 38 different configurations based on the work each of this system need to provide. For the administration of all this we do employ only two system administrators who are responsible for the installation, configuration and maintenance of those computers. This paper shows which tools are used to squash this difficult task: like Puppet (an open source Linux tool we further adapted) and many in-house developed tools offering an overview about computers, installation status and relations between the different servers / computers.
	Slides MOMAU007 [0.384 MB]
	Poster MOMAU007 [0.708 MB]

MOPKN012	Hyperarchiver: An Epics Archiver Prototype Based on Hypertable	EPICS, controls, embedded, target	114
	M.G. Giacchini, A. Andrighetto, G. Bassato, L.G. Giovannini, M. Montis, G.P. Prete, J.A. Vásquez INFN/LNL, Legnaro (PD), Italy J. Jugo University of the Basque Country, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bilbao, Spain K.-U. Kasemir ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA R. Lange HZB, Berlin, Germany R. Petkus BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA M. del Campo ESS-Bilbao, Zamudio, Spain
	This work started in the context of NSLS2 project at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The NSLS2 control system foresees a very high number of PV variables and has strict requirements in terms of archiving/retrieving rate: our goal was to store 10K PV/sec and retrieve 4K PV/sec for a group of 4 signals. The HyperArchiver is an EPICS Archiver implementation engined by Hypertable, an open source database whose internal architecture is derived from Google's Big Table. We discuss the performance of HyperArchiver and present the results of some comparative tests. HyperArchiver: http://www.lnl.infn.it/~epics/joomla/archiver.html Epics: http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/
	Poster MOPKN012 [1.231 MB]

MOPMN012	The Electronic Logbook for LNL Accelerators	experiment, ion, software, booster	260
	S. Canella, O. Carletto INFN/LNL, Legnaro (PD), Italy
	In spring 2009 all run-time data concerning the particle accelerators at LNL (Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro) were still registered mainly on paper. TANDEM and its Negative Source data were logged on a large format paper logbook, for ALPI booster and PIAVE injector with its Positive ECR Source a number of independent paper notebooks were used, together with plain data files containing raw instant snapshots of each RF superconductive accelerators. At that time a decision was taken to build a new tool for a general electronic registration of accelerators run-time data. The result of this effort, the LNL electronic logbook, is presented here .
	Poster MOPMN012 [8.543 MB]

MOPMS014	GSI Operation Software: Migration from OpenVMS to Linux	software, operation, controls, linac	351
	R. Huhmann, G. Fröhlich, S. Jülicher, V.RW. Schaa GSI, Darmstadt, Germany
	The current operation software at GSI controlling the linac, beam transfer lines, synchrotron and storage ring, has been developed over a period of more than two decades using OpenVMS now on Alpha-Workstations. The GSI accelerator facilities will serve as a injector chain for the new FAIR accelerator complex for which a control system is currently developed. To enable reuse and integration of parts of the distributed GSI software system, in particular the linac operation software, within the FAIR control system, the corresponding software components must be migrated to Linux. The interoperability with FAIR controls applications is achieved by adding a generic middleware interface accessible from Java applications. For porting applications to Linux a set of libraries and tools has been developed covering the necessary OpenVMS system functionality. Currently, core applications and services are already ported or rewritten and functionally tested but not in operational usage. This paper presents the current status of the project and concepts for putting the migrated software into operation.

MOPMS023	LHC Magnet Test Benches Controls Renovation	controls, network, hardware, interface	368
	A. Raimondo, O.O. Andreassen, D. Kudryavtsev, S.T. Page, A. Rijllart, E. Zorin CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The LHC magnet test benches controls were designed in 1996. They were based on VME data acquisition systems and Siemens PLCs control and interlocks systems. During a review of renovation of superconducting laboratories at CERN in 2009 it was decided to replace the VME systems with PXI and the obsolete Sun/Solaris workstations with Linux PCs. This presentation covers the requirements for the new systems in terms of functionality, security, channel count, sampling frequency and precision. We will report on the experience with the commissioning of the first series of fixed and mobile measurement systems upgraded to this new platform, compared to the old systems. We also include the experience with the renovated control room.
	Poster MOPMS023 [1.310 MB]

MOPMS025	Migration from OPC-DA to OPC-UA	Windows, toolkit, controls, embedded	374
	B. Farnham, R. Barillère CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The OPC-DA specification of OPC has been a highly successful interoperability standard for process automation since 1996, allowing communications between any compliant components regardless of vendor. CERN has a reliance on OPC-DA Server implementations from various 3rd party vendors which provide a standard interface to their hardware. The OPC foundation finalized the OPC-UA specification and OPC-UA implementations are now starting to gather momentum. This presentation gives a brief overview of the headline features of OPC-UA and a comparison with OPC-DA and outlines the necessity of migrating from OPC-DA and the motivation for migrating to OPC-UA. Feedback from research into the availability of tools and testing utilities will be presented and a practical overview of what will be required from a computing perspective in order to run OPC-UA clients and servers in the CERN network.
	Poster MOPMS025 [1.103 MB]

MOPMU027	Controls System Developments for the ERL Facility	controls, software, interface, electron	498
	J.P. Jamilkowski, Z. Altinbas, D.M. Gassner, L.T. Hoff, P. Kankiya, D. Kayran, T.A. Miller, R.H. Olsen, B. Sheehy, W. Xu BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
	Funding: Funding: This manuscript has been authored by employees of Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U. S. Department of Energy. The BNL Energy Recovery LINAC (ERL) is a high beam current, superconducting RF electron accelerator that is being commissioned to serve as a research and development prototype for a RHIC facility upgrade for electron-ion collision (eRHIC). Key components of the machine include a laser, photocathode, and 5-cell superconducting RF cavity operating at a frequency of 703 MHz. Starting with a foundation based on existing ADO software running on Linux servers and on the VME/VxWorks platforms developed for RHIC, we are developing a controls system that incorporates a wide range of hardware I/O interfaces that are needed for machine R&D. Details of the system layout, specifications, and user interfaces are provided.
	Poster MOPMU027 [0.709 MB]

MOPMU039	ACSys in a Box	controls, framework, database, site	522
	C.I. Briegel, D. Finstrom, B. Hendricks, CA. King, R. Neswold, D.J. Nicklaus, J.F. Patrick, A.D. Petrov, C.L. Schumann, J.G. Smedinghoff Fermilab, Batavia, USA
	Funding: Operated by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the United States Department of Energy. The Accelerator Control System at Fermilab has evolved to enable this relatively large control system to be encapsulated into a "box" such as a laptop. The goal was to provide a platform isolated from the "online" control system. This platform can be used internally for making major upgrades and modifications without impacting operations. It also provides a standalone environment for research and development including a turnkey control system for collaborators. Over time, the code base running on Scientific Linux has enabled all the salient features of the Fermilab's control system to be captured in an off-the-shelf laptop. The anticipated additional benefits of packaging the system include improved maintenance, reliability, documentation, and future enhancements.

WEBHAUST01	LHCb Online Infrastructure Monitoring Tools	controls, monitoring, status, Windows	618
	L.G. Cardoso, C. Gaspar, C. Haen, N. Neufeld, F. Varela CERN, Geneva, Switzerland D. Galli INFN-Bologna, Bologna, Italy
	The Online System of the LHCb experiment at CERN is composed of a very large number of PCs: around 1500 in a CPU farm for performing the High Level Trigger; around 170 for the control system, running the SCADA system - PVSS; and several others for performing data monitoring, reconstruction, storage, and infrastructure tasks, like databases, etc. Some PCs run Linux, some run Windows but all of them need to be remotely controlled and monitored to make sure they are correctly running and to be able, for example, to reboot them whenever necessary. A set of tools was developed in order to centrally monitor the status of all PCs and PVSS Projects needed to run the experiment: a Farm Monitoring and Control (FMC) tool, which provides the lower level access to the PCs, and a System Overview Tool (developed within the Joint Controls Project – JCOP), which provides a centralized interface to the FMC tool and adds PVSS project monitoring and control. The implementation of these tools has provided a reliable and efficient way to manage the system, both during normal operations but also during shutdowns, upgrades or maintenance operations. This paper will present the particular implementation of this tool in the LHCb experiment and the benefits of its usage in a large scale heterogeneous system.
	Slides WEBHAUST01 [3.211 MB]

WEMAU004	Integrating EtherCAT Based IO into EPICS at Diamond	EPICS, controls, real-time, Ethernet	662
	R. Mercado, I.J. Gillingham, J. Rowland, K.G. Wilkinson Diamond, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
	Diamond Light Source is actively investigating the use of EtherCAT-based Remote I/O modules for the next phase of photon beamline construction. Ethernet-based I/O in general is attractive, because of reduced equipment footprint, flexible configuration and reduced cabling. EtherCAT offers, in addition, the possibility of using inexpensive Ethernet hardware, off-the-shelf components with a throughput comparable to current VME based solutions. This paper presents the work to integrate EtherCAT-based I/O to the EPICS control system, listing platform decisions, requirement considerations and software design, and discussing the use of real-time pre-emptive Linux extensions to support high-rate devices that require deterministic sampling.
	Slides WEMAU004 [0.057 MB]
	Poster WEMAU004 [0.925 MB]

WEMAU010	Web-based Control Application using WebSocket	controls, GUI, Windows, experiment	673
	Y. Furukawa JASRI/SPring-8, Hyogo-ken, Japan
	The Websocket [1] brings asynchronous full-duplex communication between a web-based (i.e. java-script based) application and a web-server. The WebSocket started as a part of HTML5 standardization but has now been separated from the HTML5 and developed independently. Using the WebSocket, it becomes easy to develop platform independent presentation layer applications of accelerator and beamline control software. In addition, no application program has to be installed on client computers except for the web-browser. The WebSocket based applications communicate with the WebSocket server using simple text based messages, so the WebSocket can be applicable message based control system like MADOCA, which was developed for the SPring-8 control system. A simple WebSocket server for the MADOCA control system and a simple motor control application was successfully made as a first trial of the WebSocket control application. Using google-chrome (version 10.x) on Debian/Linux and Windows 7, opera (version 11.0 beta) on Debian/Linux and safari (version 5.0.3) on MacOSX as clients, the motors can be controlled using the WebSocket based web-application. The more complex applications are now under development for synchrotron radiation experiments combined with other HTML5 features. [1] http://websocket.org/
	Poster WEMAU010 [44.675 MB]

WEMMU005	Fabric Management with Diskless Servers and Quattor on LHCb	controls, experiment, embedded, collider	691
	P. Schweitzer, E. Bonaccorsi, L. Brarda, N. Neufeld CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	Large scientific experiments nowadays very often are using large computer farms to process the events acquired from the detectors. In LHCb a small sysadmin team manages 1400 servers of the LHCb Event Filter Farm, but also a wide variety of control servers for the detector electronics and infrastructure computers : file servers, gateways, DNS, DHCP and others. This variety of servers could not be handled without a solid fabric management system. We choose the Quattor toolkit for this task. We will present our use of this toolkit, with an emphasis on how we handle our diskless nodes (Event filter farm nodes and computers embedded in the acquisition electronic cards). We will show our current tests to replace the standard (RedHat/Scientific Linux) way of handling diskless nodes to fusion filesystems and how it improves fabric management.
	Slides WEMMU005 [0.119 MB]
	Poster WEMMU005 [0.602 MB]

WEPKN020	TANGO Integration of a SIMATIC WinCC Open Architecture SCADA System at ANKA	TANGO, controls, synchrotron, software	749
	T. Spangenberg, K. Cerff, W. Mexner Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany V. Kaiser Softwareschneiderei GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany
	The WinCC OA supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system provides at the ANKA synchrotron facility a powerful and very scalable tool to manage the enormous variety of technical equipment relevant for house keeping and beamline operation. Crucial to the applicability of a SCADA system for the ANKA synchrotron are the provided options to integrate it into other control concepts even if they are working e.g. on different time scales, managing concepts, and control standards. Especially these latter aspects result into different approaches for controlling concepts for technical services, storage ring, and beamlines. The beamline control at ANKA is mainly based on TANGO and SPEC, which has been expanded by TANGO server capabilities. This approach implies the essential need to provide a stable and fast link, that does not increase the dead time of a measurement, to the slower WinCC OA SCADA system. The open architecture of WinCC OA offers a smooth integration in both directions and therefore gives options to combine potential advantages, e.g. native hardware drivers or convenient graphical skills. The implemented solution will be presented and discussed at selected examples.
	Poster WEPKN020 [0.378 MB]

WEPKN027	The Performance Test of F3RP61 and Its Applications in CSNS Experimental Control System	controls, EPICS, target, embedded	763
	J. Zhuang, Y.P. Chu, D.P. Jin, J.J. Li IHEP Beijing, Beijing, People's Republic of China
	F3RP61 is an embedded PLC developed by Yokogawa, Japan. It is based on PowerPC 8347 platform. Linux and EPICS can run on it. We do some tests on this device, including CPU performance, network performance, CA access time and scan time stability of EPICS. We also compare E3RP61 with MVME5100, which is most used IOC in BEPCII. After the tests and comparison, the performance and ability of F3RP61 is clear. It can be used in Experiment Control System of CSNS (China Spallation Neutron Source) as communication nodes between front control layer and Epics layer. And in some cases, F3RP61 also has the ability to exert more functions such as control tasks.
	Poster WEPKN027 [0.200 MB]

WEPKS004	ISAC EPICS on Linux: The March of the Penguins	controls, EPICS, ISAC, hardware	778
	J.E. Richards, R.B. Nussbaumer, S. Rapaz, G. Waters TRIUMF, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vancouver, Canada
	The DC linear accelerators of the ISAC radioactive beam facility at TRIUMF do not impose rigorous timing constraints on the control system. Therefore a real-time operating system is not essential for device control. The ISAC Control System is completing a move to the use of the open source Linux operating system for hosting all EPICS IOCs. The IOC platforms include GE-Fanuc VME based CPUs for control of most optics and diagnostics, rack mounted servers for supervising PLCs, small desktop PCs for GPIB and serial "one-of-a-kind" instruments, as well as embedded ARM processors controlling CAN-bus devices that provide a suitcase sized control system. This article focuses on the experience of creating a customized Linux distribution for front-end IOC deployment. Rationale, a roadmap of the process, and efficiency advantages in personnel training and system management realized by using a single OS will be discussed.

WEPKS026	A C/C++ Build System Based on Maven for the LHC Controls System	target, controls, pick-up, framework	848
	J. Nguyen Xuan, B. Copy, M. Dönszelmann CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The CERN accelerator controls system, mainly written in Java and C/C++, consists nowadays of 50 projects and 150 active developers. The controls group has decided to unify the development process and standards (e.g. project layout) using Apache Maven and Sonatype Nexus. Maven is the de-facto build tool for Java, it deals with versioning and dependency management, whereas Nexus is a repository manager. C/C++ developers were struggling to keep their dependencies on other CERN projects, as no versioning was applied, the libraries have to be compiled and available for several platforms and architectures, and finally there was no dependency management mechanism. This results in very complex Makefiles which were difficult to maintain. Even if Maven is primarily designed for Java, a plugin (Maven NAR [1]) adapts the build process for native programming languages for different operating systems and platforms. However C/C++ developers were not keen to abandon their current Makefiles. Hence our approach was to combine the best of the two worlds: NAR/Nexus and Makefiles. Maven NAR manages the dependencies, the versioning and creates a file with the linker and compiler options to include the dependencies. The Makefiles carry the build process to generate the binaries. Finally the resulting artifacts (binaries, header files, metadata) are versioned and stored in a central Nexus repository. Early experiments were conducted in the scope of the controls group's Testbed. Some existing projects have been successfully converted to this solution and some starting projects use this implementation. [1] http://cern.ch/jnguyenx/MavenNAR.html
	Poster WEPKS026 [0.518 MB]

WEPMN008	Function Generation and Regulation Libraries and their Application to the Control of the New Main Power Converter (POPS) at the CERN CPS	controls, software, simulation, real-time	886
	Q. King, S.T. Page, H. Thiesen CERN, Geneva, Switzerland M. Veenstra EBG MedAustron, Wr. Neustadt, Austria
	Power converter control for the LHC is based on an embedded control computer called a Function Generator/Controller (FGC). Every converter includes an FGC with responsibility for the generation of the reference current as a function of time and the regulation of the circuit current, as well as control of the converter state. With many new converter controls software classes in development it was decided to generalise several key components of the FGC software in the form of C libraries: function generation in libfg, regulation, limits and simulation in libreg and DCCT, ADC and DAC calibration in libcal. These libraries were first used in the software class dedicated to controlling the new 60MW main power converter (POPS) at the CERN CPS where regulation of both magnetic field and circuit current is supported. This paper reports on the functionality provided by each library and in particular libfg and libreg. The libraries are already being used by software classes in development for the next generation FGC for Linac4 converters, as well as the CERN SPS converter controls (MUGEF) and MedAustron converter regulation board (CRB).
	Poster WEPMN008 [3.304 MB]

WEPMN014	The Software and Hardware Architectural Design of the Vessel Thermal Map Real-Time System in JET	real-time, plasma, controls, network	905
	D. Alves, A. Neto, D.F. Valcárcel IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal G. Arnoux, P. Card, S. Devaux, R.C. Felton, A. Goodyear, D. Kinna, P.J. Lomas, P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen, K-D. Zastrow CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom S. Jachmich RMA, Brussels, Belgium
	The installation of ITER-relevant materials for the plasma facing components (PFCs) in the Joint European Torus (JET) is expected to have a strong impact on the operation and protection of the experiment. In particular, the use of all-beryllium tiles, which deteriorate at a substantially lower temperature than the formerly installed CFC tiles, imposes strict thermal restrictions on the PFCs during operation. Prompt and precise responses are therefore required whenever anomalous temperatures are detected. The new Vessel Thermal Map (VTM) real-time application collects the temperature measurements provided by dedicated pyrometers and Infra-Red (IR) cameras, groups them according to spatial location and probable offending heat source and raises alarms that will trigger appropriate protective responses. In the context of JET's global scheme for the protection of the new wall, the system is required to run on a 10 millisecond cycle communicating with other systems through the Real-Time Data Network (RTDN). In order to meet these requirements a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution has been adopted based on standard x86 multi-core technology, Linux and the Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) software framework. This paper presents an overview of the system with particular technical focus on the configuration of its real-time capability and the benefits of the modular development approach and advanced tools provided by the MARTe framework. See the Appendix of F. Romanelli et al., Proceedings of the 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference 2010, Daejeon, Korea
	Poster WEPMN014 [5.306 MB]

WEPMN017	PCI Hardware Support in LIA-2 Control System	hardware, controls, interface, operation	916
	D. Bolkhovityanov, P.B. Cheblakov BINP SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
	LIA-2 control system* is built on cPCI crates with x86-compatible processor boards running Linux. Slow electronics is connected via CAN-bus, while fast electronics (4MHz and 200MHz fast ADCs and 200MHz timers) are implemented as cPCI/PMC modules. Several ways to drive PCI control electronics in Linux were examined. Finally a userspace drivers approach was chosen. These drivers communicate with hardware via a small kernel module, which provides access to PCI BARs and to interrupt handling. This module was named USPCI (User-Space PCI access). This approach dramatically simplifies creation of drivers, as opposed to kernel drivers, and provides high reliability (because only a tiny and thoroughly-debugged piece of code runs in kernel). LIA-2 accelerator was successfully commissioned, and the solution chosen has proven adequate and very easy to use. Besides, USPCI turned out to be a handy tool for examination and debugging of PCI devices direct from command-line. In this paper available approaches to work with PCI control hardware in Linux are considered, and USPCI architecture is described. * "LIA-2 Linear Induction Accelerator Control System", this conference
	Poster WEPMN017 [0.954 MB]

WEPMN020	New Developments on Tore Supra Data Acquisition Units	real-time, data-acquisition, target, controls	922
	F. Leroux, G. Caulier, L. Ducobu, M. Goniche Association EURATOM-CEA, St Paul Lez Durance, France G. Antar American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
	Tore Supra data acquisition system (DAS) was designed in the early 1980s and has considerably evolved since then. Three generations of data acquisition units still coexist: Multibus, VME, and PCI bus system. The second generation, VME bus system, running LynxOS real-time operating system (OS) is diskless. The third generation, PCI bus system, allows to perform extensive data acquisition for infrared and visible video cameras that produce large amounts of data to handle. Nevertheless, this third generation was up to now provided with an hard drive and a non real-time operating system Microsoft Windows. Diskless system is a better solution for reliability and maintainability as they share common resources like kernel and file system. Moreover, open source real-time OS is now available which provide free and convenient solutions for DAS. As a result, it was decided to explore an alternative solution based on an open source OS with a diskless system for the fourth generation. In 2010, Linux distributions for VME bus and PCI bus systems have been evaluated and compared to LynxOS. Currently, Linux OS is fairly mature to be used on DAS with pre-emptive and real time features on Motorola PowerPC, x86 and x86 multi-core architecture. The results allowed to choose a Linux version for VME and PC platform for DAS on Tore Supra. In 2011, the Tore Supra DAS dedicated software was ported on a Linux diskless PCI platform. The new generation was successfully tested during real plasma experiment on one diagnostic. The new diagnostics for Tore Supra will be developed with this new set up.
	Poster WEPMN020 [0.399 MB]

WEPMN027	Fast Scalar Data Buffering Interface in Linux 2.6 Kernel	interface, hardware, controls, instrumentation	943
	A. Homs ESRF, Grenoble, France
	Key instrumentation devices like counter/timers, analog-to-digital converter and encoders provide scalar data input. Many of them allow fast acquisitions, but do not provide hardware triggering or buffering mechanisms. A Linux 2.4 kernel driver called Hook was developed at the ESRF as a generic software-triggered buffering interface. This work presents the portage of the ESRF Hook interface to the Linux 2.6 kernel. The interface distinguishes two independent functional groups: trigger event generators and data channels. Devices in the first group create software events, like hardware interrupts generated by timers or external signals. On each event, one or more device channels on the second group are read and stored in kernel buffers. The event generators and data channels to be read are fully configurable before each sequence. Designed for fast acquisitions, the Hook implementation is well adapted to multi-CPU systems, where the interrupt latency is notably reduced. On heavily loaded dual-core PCs running standard (non real time) Linux, data can be taken at 1 KHz without losing events. Additional features include full integration into the sysfs (/sys) virtual filesystem and hotplug devices support.

WEPMN037	DEBROS: Design and Use of a Linux-like RTOS on an Inexpensive 8-bit Single Board Computer	network, hardware, interface, software	965
	M.A. Davis NSCL, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
	As the power, complexity, and capabilities of embedded processors continues to grow, it is easy to forget just how much can be done with inexpensive single board computers based on 8-bit processors. When the proprietary, non-standard tools from the vendor for one such embedded computer became a major roadblock, I embarked on a project to expand my own knowledge and provide a more flexible, standards based alternative. Inspired by operating systems such as Unix, Linux, and Minix, I wrote DEBROS (the Davis Embedded Baby Real-time Operating System) [1], which is a fully pre-emptive, priority-based OS with soft real-time capabilities that provides a subset of standard Linux/Unix compatible system calls such as stdio, BSD sockets, pipes, semaphores, etc. The end result was a much more flexible, standards-based development environment which allowed me to simplify my programming model, expand diagnostic capabilities, and reduce the time spent monitoring and applying updates to the hundreds of devices in the lab currently using this hardware.[2] [1] http://groups.nscl.msu.edu/controls/files/DEBROS_User_Developer_Manual.doc [2] http://groups.nscl.msu.edu/controls/
	Poster WEPMN037 [0.112 MB]

WEPMS007	Backward Compatibility as a Key Measure for Smooth Upgrades to the LHC Control System	controls, software, operation, feedback	989
	V. Baggiolini, M. Arruat, D. Csikos, R. Gorbonosov, P. Tarasenko, Z. Zaharieva CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	Now that the LHC is operational, a big challenge is to upgrade the control system smoothly, with minimal downtime and interruptions. Backward compatibility (BC) is a key measure to achieve this: a subsystem with a stable API can be upgraded smoothly. As part of a broader Quality Assurance effort, the CERN Accelerator Controls group explored methods and tools supporting BC. We investigated two aspects in particular: (1) "Incoming dependencies", to know which part of an API is really used by clients and (2) BC validation, to check that a modification is really backward compatible. We used this approach for Java APIs and for FESA devices (which expose an API in the form of device/property sets). For Java APIs, we gather dependency information by regularly running byte-code analysis on all the 1000 Jar files that belong to the control system and find incoming dependencies (methods calls and inheritance). An Eclipse plug-in we developed shows these incoming dependencies to the developer. If an API method is used by many clients, it has to remain backward compatible. On the other hand, if a method is not used, it can be freely modified. To validate BC, we are exploring the official Eclipse tools (PDE-API tools), and others that check BC without need for invasive technology such as OSGi. For FESA devices, we instrumented key components of our controls system to know which devices and properties are in use. This information is collected in the Controls Database and is used (amongst others) by the FESA design tools in order to prevent the FESA class developer from breaking BC.

WEPMU037	Virtualization for the LHCb Experiment	network, controls, experiment, hardware	1157
	E. Bonaccorsi, L. Brarda, M. Chebbi, N. Neufeld CERN, Geneva, Switzerland F. Sborzacchi INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma), Italy
	The LHCb Experiment, one of the four large particle physics detectors at CERN, counts in its Online System more than 2000 servers and embedded systems. As a result of ever-increasing CPU performance in modern servers, many of the applications in the controls system are excellent candidates for virtualization technologies. We see virtualization as an approach to cut down cost, optimize resource usage and manage the complexity of the IT infrastructure of LHCb. Recently we have added a Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) cluster based on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers (RHEV) complementary to the existing Hyper-V cluster devoted only to the virtualization of the windows guests. This paper describes the architecture of our solution based on KVM and RHEV as along with its integration with the existing Hyper-V infrastructure and the Quattor cluster management tools and in particular how we use to run controls applications on a virtualized infrastructure. We present performance results of both the KVM and Hyper-V solutions, problems encountered and a description of the management tools developed for the integration with the Online cluster and LHCb SCADA control system based on PVSS.

WEPMU039	Virtual IO Controllers at J-PARC MR using Xen	EPICS, controls, operation, network	1165
	N. Kamikubota, N. Yamamoto J-PARC, KEK & JAEA, Ibaraki-ken, Japan T. Iitsuka, S. Motohashi, M. Takagi, S.Y. Yoshida Kanto Information Service (KIS), Accelerator Group, Ibaraki, Japan H. Nemoto ACMOS INC., Tokai-mura, Ibaraki, Japan S. Yamada KEK, Ibaraki, Japan
	The control system for J-PARC accelerator complex has been developed based on the EPICS toolkit. About 100 traditional ("real") VME-bus computers are used as EPICS IOCs in the control system for J-PARC MR (Main Ring). Recently, we have introduced "virtual" IOCs using Xen, an open-source virtual machine monitor. Scientific Linux with an EPICS iocCore runs on a Xen virtual machine. EPICS databases for network devices and EPICS soft records can be configured. Multiple virtual IOCs run on a high performance blade-type server, running Scientific Linux as native OS. A few number of virtual IOCs have been demonstrated in MR operation since October, 2010. Experience and future perspective will be discussed.

WEPMU040	Packaging of Control System Software	software, controls, EPICS, database	1168
	K. Žagar, M. Kobal, N. Saje, A. Žagar Cosylab, Ljubljana, Slovenia F. Di Maio, D. Stepanov ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France R. Šabjan COBIK, Solkan, Slovenia
	Funding: ITER European Union, European Regional Development Fund and Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology Control system software consists of several parts – the core of the control system, drivers for integration of devices, configuration for user interfaces, alarm system, etc. Once the software is developed and configured, it must be installed to computers where it runs. Usually, it is installed on an operating system whose services it needs, and also in some cases dynamically links with the libraries it provides. Operating system can be quite complex itself – for example, a typical Linux distribution consists of several thousand packages. To manage this complexity, we have decided to rely on Red Hat Package Management system (RPM) to package control system software, and also ensure it is properly installed (i.e., that dependencies are also installed, and that scripts are run after installation if any additional actions need to be performed). As dozens of RPM packages need to be prepared, we are reducing the amount of effort and improving consistency between packages through a Maven-based infrastructure that assists in packaging (e.g., automated generation of RPM SPEC files, including automated identification of dependencies). So far, we have used it to package EPICS, Control System Studio (CSS) and several device drivers. We perform extensive testing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5, but we have also verified that packaging works on CentOS and Scientific Linux. In this article, we describe in greater detail the systematic system of packaging we are using, and its particular application for the ITER CODAC Core System.
	Poster WEPMU040 [0.740 MB]

THBHMUST01	Multi-platform SCADA GUI Regression Testing at CERN.	GUI, framework, software, Windows	1201
	P.C. Burkimsher, M. Gonzalez-Berges, S. Klikovits CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	Funding: CERN The JCOP Framework is a toolkit used widely at CERN for the development of industrial control systems in several domains (i.e. experiments, accelerators and technical infrastructure). The software development started 10 years ago and there is now a large base of production systems running it. For the success of the project, it was essential to formalize and automate the quality assurance process. The paper will present the overall testing strategy and will describe in detail mechanisms used for GUI testing. The choice of a commercial tool (Squish) and the architectural features making it appropriate for our multi-platform environment will be described. Practical difficulties encountered when using the tool in the CERN context are discussed as well as how these were addressed. In the light of initial experience, the test code itself has been recently reworked in OO style to facilitate future maintenance and extension. The paper concludes with a description of our initial steps towards incorporation of full-blown Continuous Integration (CI) support.
	Slides THBHMUST01 [1.878 MB]

THCHAUST05	LHCb Online Log Analysis and Maintenance System	software, network, detector, controls	1228
	J.C. Garnier, L. Brarda, N. Neufeld, F. Nikolaidis CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	History has shown, many times computer logs are the only information an administrator may have for an incident, which could be caused either by a malfunction or an attack. Due to huge amount of logs that are produced from large-scale IT infrastructures, such as LHCb Online, critical information may overlooked or simply be drowned in a sea of other messages . This clearly demonstrates the need for an automatic system for long-term maintenance and real time analysis of the logs. We have constructed a low cost, fault tolerant centralized logging system which is able to do in-depth analysis and cross-correlation of every log. This system is capable of handling O(10000) different log sources and numerous formats, while trying to keep the overhead as low as possible. It provides log gathering and management, offline analysis and online analysis. We call offline analysis the procedure of analyzing old logs for critical information, while Online analysis refer to the procedure of early alerting and reacting. The system is extensible and cooperates well with other applications such as Intrusion Detection / Prevention Systems. This paper presents the LHCb Online topology, problems we had to overcome and our solutions. Special emphasis is given to log analysis and how we use it for monitoring and how we can have uninterrupted access to the logs. We provide performance plots, code modification in well known log tools and our experience from trying various storage strategies.
	Slides THCHAUST05 [0.377 MB]

THCHMUST02	Control and Test Software for IRAM Widex Correlator	real-time, software, simulation, hardware	1240
	S. Blanchet, D. Broguiere, P. Chavatte, F. Morel, A. Perrigouard, M. Torres IRAM, Saint Martin d'Heres, France
	IRAM is an international research institute for radio astronomy. It has designed a new correlator called WideX for the Plateau de Bure interferometer (an array of six 15-meter telescopes) in the French Alps. The device started its official service in February 2010. This correlator must be driven in real-time at 32 Hz for sending parameters and for data acquisition. With 3.67 million channels, distributed over 1792 dedicated chips, that produce a 1.87 Gbits/sec data output rate, the data acquisition and processing and also the automatic hardware-failure detection are big challenges for the software. This article presents the software that has been developed to drive and test the correlator. In particular it presents an innovative usage of a high-speed optical link, initially developed for the CERN ALICE experiment, associated with real-time Linux (RTAI) to achieve our goals.
	Slides THCHMUST02 [2.272 MB]

THCHMUST04	Free and Open Source Software at CERN: Integration of Drivers in the Linux Kernel	controls, FPGA, framework, data-acquisition	1248
	J.D. González Cobas, S. Iglesias Gonsálvez, J.H. Lewis, J. Serrano, M. Vanga CERN, Geneva, Switzerland E.G. Cota Columbia University, NY, USA A. Rubini, F. Vaga University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
	We describe the experience acquired during the integration of the tsi148 driver into the main Linux kernel tree. The benefits (and some of the drawbacks) for long-term software maintenance are analysed, the most immediate one being the support and quality review added by an enormous community of skilled developers. Indirect consequences are also analysed, and these are no less important: a serious impact in the style of the development process, the use of cutting edge tools and technologies supporting development, the adoption of the very strict standards enforced by the Linux kernel community, etc. These elements were also exported to the hardware development process in our section and we will explain how they were used with a particular example in mind: the development of the FMC family of boards following the Open Hardware philosophy, and how its architecture must fit the Linux model. This delicate interplay of hardware and software architectures is a perfect showcase of the benefits we get from the strategic decision of having our drivers integrated in the kernel. Finally, the case for a whole family of CERN-developed drivers for data acquisition models, the prospects for its integration in the kernel, and the adoption of a model parallel to Comedi, is also taken as an example of how this model will perform in the future.
	Slides THCHMUST04 [0.777 MB]

THCHMUST05	The Case for Soft-CPUs in Accelerator Control Systems	FPGA, software, hardware, controls	1252
	W.W. Terpstra GSI, Darmstadt, Germany
	The steady improvements in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) performance, size, and cost have driven their ever increasing use in science and industry. As FPGA sizes continue to increase, more and more devices and logic are moved from external chips to FPGAs. For simple hardware devices, the savings in board area and ASIC manufacturing setup are compelling. For more dynamic logic, the trade-off is not always as clear. Traditionally, this has been the domain of CPUs and software programming languages. In hardware designs already including an FPGA, it is tempting to remove the CPU and implement all logic in the FPGA, saving component costs and increasing performance. However, that logic must then be implemented in the more constraining hardware description languages, cannot be as easily debugged or traced, and typically requires significant FPGA area. For performance-critical tasks this trade-off can make sense. However, for the myriad slower and dynamic tasks, software programming languages remain the better choice. One great benefit of a CPU is that it can perform many tasks. Thus, by including a small "Soft-CPU" inside the FPGA, all of the slower tasks can be aggregated into a single component. These tasks may then re-use existing software libraries, debugging techniques, and device drivers, while retaining ready access to the FPGA's internals. This paper discusses requirements for using Soft-CPUs in this niche, especially for the FAIR project. Several open-source alternatives will be compared and recommendations made for the best way to leverage a hybrid design.
	Slides THCHMUST05 [0.446 MB]

THDAUST03	The FERMI@Elettra Distributed Real-time Framework	real-time, controls, Ethernet, network	1267
	L. Pivetta, G. Gaio, R. Passuello, G. Scalamera ELETTRA, Basovizza, Italy
	Funding: The work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of University and Research under grants FIRB-RBAP045JF2 and FIRB-RBAP06AWK3 FERMI@Elettra is a Free Electron Laser (FEL) based on a 1.5 GeV linac. The pulsed operation of the accelerator and the necessity to characterize and control each electron bunch requires synchronous acquisition of the beam diagnostics together with the ability to drive actuators in real-time at the linac repetition rate. The Adeos/Xenomai real-time extensions have been adopted in order to add real-time capabilities to the Linux based control system computers running the Tango software. A software communication protocol based on gigabit Ethernet and known as Network Reflective Memory (NRM) has been developed to implement a shared memory across the whole control system, allowing computers to communicate in real-time. The NRM architecture, the real-time performance and the integration in the control system are described.
	Slides THDAUST03 [0.490 MB]

THDAULT04	Embedded Linux on FPGA Instruments for Control Interface and Remote Management	FPGA, embedded, controls, TANGO	1271
	B.K. Huang, R.M. Myers, R.M. Sharples Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom G. Cunningham, G.A. Naylor CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom O. Goudard ESRF, Grenoble, France J.J. Harrison Merton College, Oxford, United Kingdom R.G.L. Vann York University, Heslington, York, United Kingdom
	Funding: This work was part-funded by the RCUK Energy Programme under grant EP/I501045 and the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM and CCFE. FPGAs are now large enough that they can easily accommodate an embedded 32-bit processor which can be used to great advantage. Running embedded Linux gives the user many more options for interfacing to their FPGA-based instrument, and in some cases this enables removal of the middle-person PC. It is now possible to manage the instrument directly by widely used control systems such EPICS or TANGO. As an example, on MAST (the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, a new vertical feedback system is under development in which waveform coefficients can be changed between plasma discharges to define the plasma position behaviour. Additionally it is possible to use the embedded processor to facilitate remote updating of firmware which, in combination with a watchdog and network booting ensures that full remote management over Ethernet is possible. We also discuss UDP data streaming using embedded Linux and a web based control interface running on the embedded processor to interface to the FPGA board.
	Slides THDAULT04 [2.267 MB]

THDAULT06	MARTe Framework: a Middleware for Real-time Applications Development	real-time, controls, framework, hardware	1277
	A. Neto, D. Alves, B. Carvalho, P.J. Carvalho, H. Fernandes, D.F. Valcárcel IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal A. Barbalace, G. Manduchi Consorzio RFX, Associazione Euratom-ENEA sulla Fusione, Padova, Italy L. Boncagni ENEA C.R. Frascati, Frascati (Roma), Italy G. De Tommasi CREATE, Napoli, Italy P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom F. Sartori F4E, Barcelona, Spain R. Vitelli Università di Roma II Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy L. Zabeo ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France
	Funding: This work was supported by the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/IST and was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement The Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) is a C++ framework that provides a development environment for the design and deployment of real-time applications, e.g. control systems. The kernel of MARTe comprises a set of data-driven independent blocks, connected using a shared bus. This modular design enforces a clear boundary between algorithms, hardware interaction and system configuration. The architecture, being multi-platform, facilitates the test and commissioning of new systems, enabling the execution of plant models in offline environments and with the hardware-in-the-loop, whilst also providing a set of non-intrusive introspection and logging facilities. Furthermore, applications can be developed in non real-time environments and deployed in a real-time operating system, using exactly the same code and configuration data. The framework is already being used in several fusion experiments, with control cycles ranging from 50 microseconds to 10 milliseconds exhibiting jitters of less than 2%, using VxWorks, RTAI or Linux. Codes can also be developed and executed in Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X. This paper discusses the main design concepts of MARTe, in particular the architectural choices which enabled the combination of real-time accuracy, performance and robustness with complex and modular data driven applications.
	Slides THDAULT06 [1.535 MB]

FRBHMULT05	Middleware Trends and Market Leaders 2011	CORBA, controls, Windows, network	1334
	A. Dworak, P. Charrue, F. Ehm, W. Sliwinski, M. Sobczak CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
	The Controls Middleware (CMW) project was launched over ten years ago. Its main goal was to unify middleware solutions used to operate CERN accelerators. An important part of the project, the equipment access library RDA, was based on CORBA, an unquestionable standard at the time. RDA became an operational and critical part of the infrastructure, yet the demanding run-time environment revealed some shortcomings of the system. Accumulation of fixes and workarounds led to unnecessary complexity. RDA became difficult to maintain and to extend. CORBA proved to be rather a cumbersome product than a panacea. Fortunately, many new transport frameworks appeared since then. They boasted a better design, and supported concepts that made them easy to use. Willing to profit from the new libraries, the CMW team updated user requirements, and in their terms investigated eventual CORBA substitutes. The process consisted of several phases: a review of middleware solutions belonging to different categories (e.g. data-centric, object-, and message-oriented) and their applicability to a communication model in RDA; evaluation of several market recognized products and promising start-ups; prototyping of typical communication scenarios; testing the libraries against exceptional situations and errors; verifying that mandatory performance constraints were met. Thanks to the performed investigation the team have selected a few libraries that suit their needs better than CORBA. Further prototyping will select the best candidate.
	Slides FRBHMULT05 [8.508 MB]

Paper

Title

Other Keywords

Page

MOMAU007

How to Maintain Hundreds of Computers Offering Different Functionalities with Only Two System Administrators

controls, software, database, EPICS

56

R.A. Krempaska, A.G. Bertrand, C.E. Higgs, R. Kapeller, H. Lutz, M. Provenzano
Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

The Controls section in PSI is responsible for the Control Systems of four Accelerators: two proton accelerators HIPA and PROSCAN, Swiss Light Source SLS and the Free Electron Laser (SwissFEL) Test Facility. On top of that, we have 18 additional SLS beamlines to control. The controls system is mainly composed of the so called Input Output Controllers (IOCs) which require a complete and complex computing infrastructure in order to boot, being developed, debugged and monitored. This infrastructure consists currently mainly of Linux computers like boot server, port server, or configuration server (called save and restore server). Overall, the constellation of computers and servers which compose the control system counts about five hundred Linux computers which can be split into 38 different configurations based on the work each of this system need to provide. For the administration of all this we do employ only two system administrators who are responsible for the installation, configuration and maintenance of those computers. This paper shows which tools are used to squash this difficult task: like Puppet (an open source Linux tool we further adapted) and many in-house developed tools offering an overview about computers, installation status and relations between the different servers / computers.

Slides MOMAU007 [0.384 MB]

Poster MOMAU007 [0.708 MB]

MOPKN012

Hyperarchiver: An Epics Archiver Prototype Based on Hypertable

EPICS, controls, embedded, target

114

M.G. Giacchini, A. Andrighetto, G. Bassato, L.G. Giovannini, M. Montis, G.P. Prete, J.A. Vásquez
INFN/LNL, Legnaro (PD), Italy
J. Jugo
University of the Basque Country, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bilbao, Spain
K.-U. Kasemir
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
R. Lange
HZB, Berlin, Germany
R. Petkus
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
M. del Campo
ESS-Bilbao, Zamudio, Spain

This work started in the context of NSLS2 project at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The NSLS2 control system foresees a very high number of PV variables and has strict requirements in terms of archiving/retrieving rate: our goal was to store 10K PV/sec and retrieve 4K PV/sec for a group of 4 signals. The HyperArchiver is an EPICS Archiver implementation engined by Hypertable, an open source database whose internal architecture is derived from Google's Big Table. We discuss the performance of HyperArchiver and present the results of some comparative tests.
HyperArchiver: http://www.lnl.infn.it/~epics/joomla/archiver.html
Epics: http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/

Poster MOPKN012 [1.231 MB]

MOPMN012

The Electronic Logbook for LNL Accelerators

experiment, ion, software, booster

260

S. Canella, O. Carletto
INFN/LNL, Legnaro (PD), Italy

In spring 2009 all run-time data concerning the particle accelerators at LNL (Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro) were still registered mainly on paper. TANDEM and its Negative Source data were logged on a large format paper logbook, for ALPI booster and PIAVE injector with its Positive ECR Source a number of independent paper notebooks were used, together with plain data files containing raw instant snapshots of each RF superconductive accelerators. At that time a decision was taken to build a new tool for a general electronic registration of accelerators run-time data. The result of this effort, the LNL electronic logbook, is presented here .

Poster MOPMN012 [8.543 MB]

MOPMS014

GSI Operation Software: Migration from OpenVMS to Linux

software, operation, controls, linac

351

R. Huhmann, G. Fröhlich, S. Jülicher, V.RW. Schaa
GSI, Darmstadt, Germany

The current operation software at GSI controlling the linac, beam transfer lines, synchrotron and storage ring, has been developed over a period of more than two decades using OpenVMS now on Alpha-Workstations. The GSI accelerator facilities will serve as a injector chain for the new FAIR accelerator complex for which a control system is currently developed. To enable reuse and integration of parts of the distributed GSI software system, in particular the linac operation software, within the FAIR control system, the corresponding software components must be migrated to Linux. The interoperability with FAIR controls applications is achieved by adding a generic middleware interface accessible from Java applications. For porting applications to Linux a set of libraries and tools has been developed covering the necessary OpenVMS system functionality. Currently, core applications and services are already ported or rewritten and functionally tested but not in operational usage. This paper presents the current status of the project and concepts for putting the migrated software into operation.

MOPMS023

LHC Magnet Test Benches Controls Renovation

controls, network, hardware, interface

368

A. Raimondo, O.O. Andreassen, D. Kudryavtsev, S.T. Page, A. Rijllart, E. Zorin
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The LHC magnet test benches controls were designed in 1996. They were based on VME data acquisition systems and Siemens PLCs control and interlocks systems. During a review of renovation of superconducting laboratories at CERN in 2009 it was decided to replace the VME systems with PXI and the obsolete Sun/Solaris workstations with Linux PCs. This presentation covers the requirements for the new systems in terms of functionality, security, channel count, sampling frequency and precision. We will report on the experience with the commissioning of the first series of fixed and mobile measurement systems upgraded to this new platform, compared to the old systems. We also include the experience with the renovated control room.

Poster MOPMS023 [1.310 MB]

MOPMS025

Migration from OPC-DA to OPC-UA

Windows, toolkit, controls, embedded

374

B. Farnham, R. Barillère
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The OPC-DA specification of OPC has been a highly successful interoperability standard for process automation since 1996, allowing communications between any compliant components regardless of vendor. CERN has a reliance on OPC-DA Server implementations from various 3rd party vendors which provide a standard interface to their hardware. The OPC foundation finalized the OPC-UA specification and OPC-UA implementations are now starting to gather momentum. This presentation gives a brief overview of the headline features of OPC-UA and a comparison with OPC-DA and outlines the necessity of migrating from OPC-DA and the motivation for migrating to OPC-UA. Feedback from research into the availability of tools and testing utilities will be presented and a practical overview of what will be required from a computing perspective in order to run OPC-UA clients and servers in the CERN network.

Poster MOPMS025 [1.103 MB]

MOPMU027

Controls System Developments for the ERL Facility

controls, software, interface, electron

498

J.P. Jamilkowski, Z. Altinbas, D.M. Gassner, L.T. Hoff, P. Kankiya, D. Kayran, T.A. Miller, R.H. Olsen, B. Sheehy, W. Xu
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA

Funding: Funding: This manuscript has been authored by employees of Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U. S. Department of Energy.
The BNL Energy Recovery LINAC (ERL) is a high beam current, superconducting RF electron accelerator that is being commissioned to serve as a research and development prototype for a RHIC facility upgrade for electron-ion collision (eRHIC). Key components of the machine include a laser, photocathode, and 5-cell superconducting RF cavity operating at a frequency of 703 MHz. Starting with a foundation based on existing ADO software running on Linux servers and on the VME/VxWorks platforms developed for RHIC, we are developing a controls system that incorporates a wide range of hardware I/O interfaces that are needed for machine R&D. Details of the system layout, specifications, and user interfaces are provided.

Poster MOPMU027 [0.709 MB]

MOPMU039

ACSys in a Box

controls, framework, database, site

522

C.I. Briegel, D. Finstrom, B. Hendricks, CA. King, R. Neswold, D.J. Nicklaus, J.F. Patrick, A.D. Petrov, C.L. Schumann, J.G. Smedinghoff
Fermilab, Batavia, USA

Funding: Operated by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the United States Department of Energy.
The Accelerator Control System at Fermilab has evolved to enable this relatively large control system to be encapsulated into a "box" such as a laptop. The goal was to provide a platform isolated from the "online" control system. This platform can be used internally for making major upgrades and modifications without impacting operations. It also provides a standalone environment for research and development including a turnkey control system for collaborators. Over time, the code base running on Scientific Linux has enabled all the salient features of the Fermilab's control system to be captured in an off-the-shelf laptop. The anticipated additional benefits of packaging the system include improved maintenance, reliability, documentation, and future enhancements.

WEBHAUST01

LHCb Online Infrastructure Monitoring Tools

controls, monitoring, status, Windows

618

L.G. Cardoso, C. Gaspar, C. Haen, N. Neufeld, F. Varela
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
D. Galli
INFN-Bologna, Bologna, Italy

The Online System of the LHCb experiment at CERN is composed of a very large number of PCs: around 1500 in a CPU farm for performing the High Level Trigger; around 170 for the control system, running the SCADA system - PVSS; and several others for performing data monitoring, reconstruction, storage, and infrastructure tasks, like databases, etc. Some PCs run Linux, some run Windows but all of them need to be remotely controlled and monitored to make sure they are correctly running and to be able, for example, to reboot them whenever necessary. A set of tools was developed in order to centrally monitor the status of all PCs and PVSS Projects needed to run the experiment: a Farm Monitoring and Control (FMC) tool, which provides the lower level access to the PCs, and a System Overview Tool (developed within the Joint Controls Project – JCOP), which provides a centralized interface to the FMC tool and adds PVSS project monitoring and control. The implementation of these tools has provided a reliable and efficient way to manage the system, both during normal operations but also during shutdowns, upgrades or maintenance operations. This paper will present the particular implementation of this tool in the LHCb experiment and the benefits of its usage in a large scale heterogeneous system.

Slides WEBHAUST01 [3.211 MB]

WEMAU004

Integrating EtherCAT Based IO into EPICS at Diamond

EPICS, controls, real-time, Ethernet

662

R. Mercado, I.J. Gillingham, J. Rowland, K.G. Wilkinson
Diamond, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Diamond Light Source is actively investigating the use of EtherCAT-based Remote I/O modules for the next phase of photon beamline construction. Ethernet-based I/O in general is attractive, because of reduced equipment footprint, flexible configuration and reduced cabling. EtherCAT offers, in addition, the possibility of using inexpensive Ethernet hardware, off-the-shelf components with a throughput comparable to current VME based solutions. This paper presents the work to integrate EtherCAT-based I/O to the EPICS control system, listing platform decisions, requirement considerations and software design, and discussing the use of real-time pre-emptive Linux extensions to support high-rate devices that require deterministic sampling.

Slides WEMAU004 [0.057 MB]

Poster WEMAU004 [0.925 MB]

WEMAU010

Web-based Control Application using WebSocket

controls, GUI, Windows, experiment

673

Y. Furukawa
JASRI/SPring-8, Hyogo-ken, Japan

The Websocket [1] brings asynchronous full-duplex communication between a web-based (i.e. java-script based) application and a web-server. The WebSocket started as a part of HTML5 standardization but has now been separated from the HTML5 and developed independently. Using the WebSocket, it becomes easy to develop platform independent presentation layer applications of accelerator and beamline control software. In addition, no application program has to be installed on client computers except for the web-browser. The WebSocket based applications communicate with the WebSocket server using simple text based messages, so the WebSocket can be applicable message based control system like MADOCA, which was developed for the SPring-8 control system. A simple WebSocket server for the MADOCA control system and a simple motor control application was successfully made as a first trial of the WebSocket control application. Using google-chrome (version 10.x) on Debian/Linux and Windows 7, opera (version 11.0 beta) on Debian/Linux and safari (version 5.0.3) on MacOSX as clients, the motors can be controlled using the WebSocket based web-application. The more complex applications are now under development for synchrotron radiation experiments combined with other HTML5 features.
[1] http://websocket.org/

Poster WEMAU010 [44.675 MB]

WEMMU005

Fabric Management with Diskless Servers and Quattor on LHCb

controls, experiment, embedded, collider

691

P. Schweitzer, E. Bonaccorsi, L. Brarda, N. Neufeld
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Large scientific experiments nowadays very often are using large computer farms to process the events acquired from the detectors. In LHCb a small sysadmin team manages 1400 servers of the LHCb Event Filter Farm, but also a wide variety of control servers for the detector electronics and infrastructure computers : file servers, gateways, DNS, DHCP and others. This variety of servers could not be handled without a solid fabric management system. We choose the Quattor toolkit for this task. We will present our use of this toolkit, with an emphasis on how we handle our diskless nodes (Event filter farm nodes and computers embedded in the acquisition electronic cards). We will show our current tests to replace the standard (RedHat/Scientific Linux) way of handling diskless nodes to fusion filesystems and how it improves fabric management.

Slides WEMMU005 [0.119 MB]

Poster WEMMU005 [0.602 MB]

WEPKN020

TANGO Integration of a SIMATIC WinCC Open Architecture SCADA System at ANKA

TANGO, controls, synchrotron, software

749

T. Spangenberg, K. Cerff, W. Mexner
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
V. Kaiser
Softwareschneiderei GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany

The WinCC OA supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system provides at the ANKA synchrotron facility a powerful and very scalable tool to manage the enormous variety of technical equipment relevant for house keeping and beamline operation. Crucial to the applicability of a SCADA system for the ANKA synchrotron are the provided options to integrate it into other control concepts even if they are working e.g. on different time scales, managing concepts, and control standards. Especially these latter aspects result into different approaches for controlling concepts for technical services, storage ring, and beamlines. The beamline control at ANKA is mainly based on TANGO and SPEC, which has been expanded by TANGO server capabilities. This approach implies the essential need to provide a stable and fast link, that does not increase the dead time of a measurement, to the slower WinCC OA SCADA system. The open architecture of WinCC OA offers a smooth integration in both directions and therefore gives options to combine potential advantages, e.g. native hardware drivers or convenient graphical skills. The implemented solution will be presented and discussed at selected examples.

Poster WEPKN020 [0.378 MB]

WEPKN027

The Performance Test of F3RP61 and Its Applications in CSNS Experimental Control System

controls, EPICS, target, embedded

763

J. Zhuang, Y.P. Chu, D.P. Jin, J.J. Li
IHEP Beijing, Beijing, People's Republic of China

F3RP61 is an embedded PLC developed by Yokogawa, Japan. It is based on PowerPC 8347 platform. Linux and EPICS can run on it. We do some tests on this device, including CPU performance, network performance, CA access time and scan time stability of EPICS. We also compare E3RP61 with MVME5100, which is most used IOC in BEPCII. After the tests and comparison, the performance and ability of F3RP61 is clear. It can be used in Experiment Control System of CSNS (China Spallation Neutron Source) as communication nodes between front control layer and Epics layer. And in some cases, F3RP61 also has the ability to exert more functions such as control tasks.

Poster WEPKN027 [0.200 MB]

WEPKS004

ISAC EPICS on Linux: The March of the Penguins

controls, EPICS, ISAC, hardware

778

J.E. Richards, R.B. Nussbaumer, S. Rapaz, G. Waters
TRIUMF, Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Vancouver, Canada

The DC linear accelerators of the ISAC radioactive beam facility at TRIUMF do not impose rigorous timing constraints on the control system. Therefore a real-time operating system is not essential for device control. The ISAC Control System is completing a move to the use of the open source Linux operating system for hosting all EPICS IOCs. The IOC platforms include GE-Fanuc VME based CPUs for control of most optics and diagnostics, rack mounted servers for supervising PLCs, small desktop PCs for GPIB and serial "one-of-a-kind" instruments, as well as embedded ARM processors controlling CAN-bus devices that provide a suitcase sized control system. This article focuses on the experience of creating a customized Linux distribution for front-end IOC deployment. Rationale, a roadmap of the process, and efficiency advantages in personnel training and system management realized by using a single OS will be discussed.

WEPKS026

A C/C++ Build System Based on Maven for the LHC Controls System

target, controls, pick-up, framework

848

J. Nguyen Xuan, B. Copy, M. Dönszelmann
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The CERN accelerator controls system, mainly written in Java and C/C++, consists nowadays of 50 projects and 150 active developers. The controls group has decided to unify the development process and standards (e.g. project layout) using Apache Maven and Sonatype Nexus. Maven is the de-facto build tool for Java, it deals with versioning and dependency management, whereas Nexus is a repository manager. C/C++ developers were struggling to keep their dependencies on other CERN projects, as no versioning was applied, the libraries have to be compiled and available for several platforms and architectures, and finally there was no dependency management mechanism. This results in very complex Makefiles which were difficult to maintain. Even if Maven is primarily designed for Java, a plugin (Maven NAR [1]) adapts the build process for native programming languages for different operating systems and platforms. However C/C++ developers were not keen to abandon their current Makefiles. Hence our approach was to combine the best of the two worlds: NAR/Nexus and Makefiles. Maven NAR manages the dependencies, the versioning and creates a file with the linker and compiler options to include the dependencies. The Makefiles carry the build process to generate the binaries. Finally the resulting artifacts (binaries, header files, metadata) are versioned and stored in a central Nexus repository. Early experiments were conducted in the scope of the controls group's Testbed. Some existing projects have been successfully converted to this solution and some starting projects use this implementation.
[1] http://cern.ch/jnguyenx/MavenNAR.html

Poster WEPKS026 [0.518 MB]

WEPMN008

Function Generation and Regulation Libraries and their Application to the Control of the New Main Power Converter (POPS) at the CERN CPS

controls, software, simulation, real-time

886

Q. King, S.T. Page, H. Thiesen
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
M. Veenstra
EBG MedAustron, Wr. Neustadt, Austria

Power converter control for the LHC is based on an embedded control computer called a Function Generator/Controller (FGC). Every converter includes an FGC with responsibility for the generation of the reference current as a function of time and the regulation of the circuit current, as well as control of the converter state. With many new converter controls software classes in development it was decided to generalise several key components of the FGC software in the form of C libraries: function generation in libfg, regulation, limits and simulation in libreg and DCCT, ADC and DAC calibration in libcal. These libraries were first used in the software class dedicated to controlling the new 60MW main power converter (POPS) at the CERN CPS where regulation of both magnetic field and circuit current is supported. This paper reports on the functionality provided by each library and in particular libfg and libreg. The libraries are already being used by software classes in development for the next generation FGC for Linac4 converters, as well as the CERN SPS converter controls (MUGEF) and MedAustron converter regulation board (CRB).

Poster WEPMN008 [3.304 MB]

WEPMN014

The Software and Hardware Architectural Design of the Vessel Thermal Map Real-Time System in JET

real-time, plasma, controls, network

905

D. Alves, A. Neto, D.F. Valcárcel
IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
G. Arnoux, P. Card, S. Devaux, R.C. Felton, A. Goodyear, D. Kinna, P.J. Lomas, P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen, K-D. Zastrow
CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
S. Jachmich
RMA, Brussels, Belgium

The installation of ITER-relevant materials for the plasma facing components (PFCs) in the Joint European Torus (JET) is expected to have a strong impact on the operation and protection of the experiment. In particular, the use of all-beryllium tiles, which deteriorate at a substantially lower temperature than the formerly installed CFC tiles, imposes strict thermal restrictions on the PFCs during operation. Prompt and precise responses are therefore required whenever anomalous temperatures are detected. The new Vessel Thermal Map (VTM) real-time application collects the temperature measurements provided by dedicated pyrometers and Infra-Red (IR) cameras, groups them according to spatial location and probable offending heat source and raises alarms that will trigger appropriate protective responses. In the context of JET's global scheme for the protection of the new wall, the system is required to run on a 10 millisecond cycle communicating with other systems through the Real-Time Data Network (RTDN). In order to meet these requirements a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution has been adopted based on standard x86 multi-core technology, Linux and the Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) software framework. This paper presents an overview of the system with particular technical focus on the configuration of its real-time capability and the benefits of the modular development approach and advanced tools provided by the MARTe framework.
See the Appendix of F. Romanelli et al., Proceedings of the 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference 2010, Daejeon, Korea

Poster WEPMN014 [5.306 MB]

WEPMN017

PCI Hardware Support in LIA-2 Control System

hardware, controls, interface, operation

916

D. Bolkhovityanov, P.B. Cheblakov
BINP SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

LIA-2 control system* is built on cPCI crates with x86-compatible processor boards running Linux. Slow electronics is connected via CAN-bus, while fast electronics (4MHz and 200MHz fast ADCs and 200MHz timers) are implemented as cPCI/PMC modules. Several ways to drive PCI control electronics in Linux were examined. Finally a userspace drivers approach was chosen. These drivers communicate with hardware via a small kernel module, which provides access to PCI BARs and to interrupt handling. This module was named USPCI (User-Space PCI access). This approach dramatically simplifies creation of drivers, as opposed to kernel drivers, and provides high reliability (because only a tiny and thoroughly-debugged piece of code runs in kernel). LIA-2 accelerator was successfully commissioned, and the solution chosen has proven adequate and very easy to use. Besides, USPCI turned out to be a handy tool for examination and debugging of PCI devices direct from command-line. In this paper available approaches to work with PCI control hardware in Linux are considered, and USPCI architecture is described.
* "LIA-2 Linear Induction Accelerator Control System", this conference

Poster WEPMN017 [0.954 MB]

WEPMN020

New Developments on Tore Supra Data Acquisition Units

real-time, data-acquisition, target, controls

922

F. Leroux, G. Caulier, L. Ducobu, M. Goniche
Association EURATOM-CEA, St Paul Lez Durance, France
G. Antar
American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

Tore Supra data acquisition system (DAS) was designed in the early 1980s and has considerably evolved since then. Three generations of data acquisition units still coexist: Multibus, VME, and PCI bus system. The second generation, VME bus system, running LynxOS real-time operating system (OS) is diskless. The third generation, PCI bus system, allows to perform extensive data acquisition for infrared and visible video cameras that produce large amounts of data to handle. Nevertheless, this third generation was up to now provided with an hard drive and a non real-time operating system Microsoft Windows. Diskless system is a better solution for reliability and maintainability as they share common resources like kernel and file system. Moreover, open source real-time OS is now available which provide free and convenient solutions for DAS. As a result, it was decided to explore an alternative solution based on an open source OS with a diskless system for the fourth generation. In 2010, Linux distributions for VME bus and PCI bus systems have been evaluated and compared to LynxOS. Currently, Linux OS is fairly mature to be used on DAS with pre-emptive and real time features on Motorola PowerPC, x86 and x86 multi-core architecture. The results allowed to choose a Linux version for VME and PC platform for DAS on Tore Supra. In 2011, the Tore Supra DAS dedicated software was ported on a Linux diskless PCI platform. The new generation was successfully tested during real plasma experiment on one diagnostic. The new diagnostics for Tore Supra will be developed with this new set up.

Poster WEPMN020 [0.399 MB]

WEPMN027

Fast Scalar Data Buffering Interface in Linux 2.6 Kernel

interface, hardware, controls, instrumentation

943

A. Homs
ESRF, Grenoble, France

Key instrumentation devices like counter/timers, analog-to-digital converter and encoders provide scalar data input. Many of them allow fast acquisitions, but do not provide hardware triggering or buffering mechanisms. A Linux 2.4 kernel driver called Hook was developed at the ESRF as a generic software-triggered buffering interface. This work presents the portage of the ESRF Hook interface to the Linux 2.6 kernel. The interface distinguishes two independent functional groups: trigger event generators and data channels. Devices in the first group create software events, like hardware interrupts generated by timers or external signals. On each event, one or more device channels on the second group are read and stored in kernel buffers. The event generators and data channels to be read are fully configurable before each sequence. Designed for fast acquisitions, the Hook implementation is well adapted to multi-CPU systems, where the interrupt latency is notably reduced. On heavily loaded dual-core PCs running standard (non real time) Linux, data can be taken at 1 KHz without losing events. Additional features include full integration into the sysfs (/sys) virtual filesystem and hotplug devices support.

WEPMN037

DEBROS: Design and Use of a Linux-like RTOS on an Inexpensive 8-bit Single Board Computer

network, hardware, interface, software

965

M.A. Davis
NSCL, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

As the power, complexity, and capabilities of embedded processors continues to grow, it is easy to forget just how much can be done with inexpensive single board computers based on 8-bit processors. When the proprietary, non-standard tools from the vendor for one such embedded computer became a major roadblock, I embarked on a project to expand my own knowledge and provide a more flexible, standards based alternative. Inspired by operating systems such as Unix, Linux, and Minix, I wrote DEBROS (the Davis Embedded Baby Real-time Operating System) [1], which is a fully pre-emptive, priority-based OS with soft real-time capabilities that provides a subset of standard Linux/Unix compatible system calls such as stdio, BSD sockets, pipes, semaphores, etc. The end result was a much more flexible, standards-based development environment which allowed me to simplify my programming model, expand diagnostic capabilities, and reduce the time spent monitoring and applying updates to the hundreds of devices in the lab currently using this hardware.[2]
[1] http://groups.nscl.msu.edu/controls/files/DEBROS_User_Developer_Manual.doc
[2] http://groups.nscl.msu.edu/controls/

Poster WEPMN037 [0.112 MB]

WEPMS007

Backward Compatibility as a Key Measure for Smooth Upgrades to the LHC Control System

controls, software, operation, feedback

989

V. Baggiolini, M. Arruat, D. Csikos, R. Gorbonosov, P. Tarasenko, Z. Zaharieva
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Now that the LHC is operational, a big challenge is to upgrade the control system smoothly, with minimal downtime and interruptions. Backward compatibility (BC) is a key measure to achieve this: a subsystem with a stable API can be upgraded smoothly. As part of a broader Quality Assurance effort, the CERN Accelerator Controls group explored methods and tools supporting BC. We investigated two aspects in particular: (1) "Incoming dependencies", to know which part of an API is really used by clients and (2) BC validation, to check that a modification is really backward compatible. We used this approach for Java APIs and for FESA devices (which expose an API in the form of device/property sets). For Java APIs, we gather dependency information by regularly running byte-code analysis on all the 1000 Jar files that belong to the control system and find incoming dependencies (methods calls and inheritance). An Eclipse plug-in we developed shows these incoming dependencies to the developer. If an API method is used by many clients, it has to remain backward compatible. On the other hand, if a method is not used, it can be freely modified. To validate BC, we are exploring the official Eclipse tools (PDE-API tools), and others that check BC without need for invasive technology such as OSGi. For FESA devices, we instrumented key components of our controls system to know which devices and properties are in use. This information is collected in the Controls Database and is used (amongst others) by the FESA design tools in order to prevent the FESA class developer from breaking BC.

WEPMU037

Virtualization for the LHCb Experiment

network, controls, experiment, hardware

1157

E. Bonaccorsi, L. Brarda, M. Chebbi, N. Neufeld
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
F. Sborzacchi
INFN/LNF, Frascati (Roma), Italy

The LHCb Experiment, one of the four large particle physics detectors at CERN, counts in its Online System more than 2000 servers and embedded systems. As a result of ever-increasing CPU performance in modern servers, many of the applications in the controls system are excellent candidates for virtualization technologies. We see virtualization as an approach to cut down cost, optimize resource usage and manage the complexity of the IT infrastructure of LHCb. Recently we have added a Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) cluster based on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers (RHEV) complementary to the existing Hyper-V cluster devoted only to the virtualization of the windows guests. This paper describes the architecture of our solution based on KVM and RHEV as along with its integration with the existing Hyper-V infrastructure and the Quattor cluster management tools and in particular how we use to run controls applications on a virtualized infrastructure. We present performance results of both the KVM and Hyper-V solutions, problems encountered and a description of the management tools developed for the integration with the Online cluster and LHCb SCADA control system based on PVSS.

WEPMU039

Virtual IO Controllers at J-PARC MR using Xen

EPICS, controls, operation, network

1165

N. Kamikubota, N. Yamamoto
J-PARC, KEK & JAEA, Ibaraki-ken, Japan
T. Iitsuka, S. Motohashi, M. Takagi, S.Y. Yoshida
Kanto Information Service (KIS), Accelerator Group, Ibaraki, Japan
H. Nemoto
ACMOS INC., Tokai-mura, Ibaraki, Japan
S. Yamada
KEK, Ibaraki, Japan

The control system for J-PARC accelerator complex has been developed based on the EPICS toolkit. About 100 traditional ("real") VME-bus computers are used as EPICS IOCs in the control system for J-PARC MR (Main Ring). Recently, we have introduced "virtual" IOCs using Xen, an open-source virtual machine monitor. Scientific Linux with an EPICS iocCore runs on a Xen virtual machine. EPICS databases for network devices and EPICS soft records can be configured. Multiple virtual IOCs run on a high performance blade-type server, running Scientific Linux as native OS. A few number of virtual IOCs have been demonstrated in MR operation since October, 2010. Experience and future perspective will be discussed.

WEPMU040

Packaging of Control System Software

software, controls, EPICS, database

1168

K. Žagar, M. Kobal, N. Saje, A. Žagar
Cosylab, Ljubljana, Slovenia
F. Di Maio, D. Stepanov
ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France
R. Šabjan
COBIK, Solkan, Slovenia

Funding: ITER European Union, European Regional Development Fund and Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology
Control system software consists of several parts – the core of the control system, drivers for integration of devices, configuration for user interfaces, alarm system, etc. Once the software is developed and configured, it must be installed to computers where it runs. Usually, it is installed on an operating system whose services it needs, and also in some cases dynamically links with the libraries it provides. Operating system can be quite complex itself – for example, a typical Linux distribution consists of several thousand packages. To manage this complexity, we have decided to rely on Red Hat Package Management system (RPM) to package control system software, and also ensure it is properly installed (i.e., that dependencies are also installed, and that scripts are run after installation if any additional actions need to be performed). As dozens of RPM packages need to be prepared, we are reducing the amount of effort and improving consistency between packages through a Maven-based infrastructure that assists in packaging (e.g., automated generation of RPM SPEC files, including automated identification of dependencies). So far, we have used it to package EPICS, Control System Studio (CSS) and several device drivers. We perform extensive testing on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5, but we have also verified that packaging works on CentOS and Scientific Linux. In this article, we describe in greater detail the systematic system of packaging we are using, and its particular application for the ITER CODAC Core System.

Poster WEPMU040 [0.740 MB]

THBHMUST01

Multi-platform SCADA GUI Regression Testing at CERN.

GUI, framework, software, Windows

1201

P.C. Burkimsher, M. Gonzalez-Berges, S. Klikovits
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

Funding: CERN
The JCOP Framework is a toolkit used widely at CERN for the development of industrial control systems in several domains (i.e. experiments, accelerators and technical infrastructure). The software development started 10 years ago and there is now a large base of production systems running it. For the success of the project, it was essential to formalize and automate the quality assurance process. The paper will present the overall testing strategy and will describe in detail mechanisms used for GUI testing. The choice of a commercial tool (Squish) and the architectural features making it appropriate for our multi-platform environment will be described. Practical difficulties encountered when using the tool in the CERN context are discussed as well as how these were addressed. In the light of initial experience, the test code itself has been recently reworked in OO style to facilitate future maintenance and extension. The paper concludes with a description of our initial steps towards incorporation of full-blown Continuous Integration (CI) support.

Slides THBHMUST01 [1.878 MB]

THCHAUST05

LHCb Online Log Analysis and Maintenance System

software, network, detector, controls

1228

J.C. Garnier, L. Brarda, N. Neufeld, F. Nikolaidis
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

History has shown, many times computer logs are the only information an administrator may have for an incident, which could be caused either by a malfunction or an attack. Due to huge amount of logs that are produced from large-scale IT infrastructures, such as LHCb Online, critical information may overlooked or simply be drowned in a sea of other messages . This clearly demonstrates the need for an automatic system for long-term maintenance and real time analysis of the logs. We have constructed a low cost, fault tolerant centralized logging system which is able to do in-depth analysis and cross-correlation of every log. This system is capable of handling O(10000) different log sources and numerous formats, while trying to keep the overhead as low as possible. It provides log gathering and management, offline analysis and online analysis. We call offline analysis the procedure of analyzing old logs for critical information, while Online analysis refer to the procedure of early alerting and reacting. The system is extensible and cooperates well with other applications such as Intrusion Detection / Prevention Systems. This paper presents the LHCb Online topology, problems we had to overcome and our solutions. Special emphasis is given to log analysis and how we use it for monitoring and how we can have uninterrupted access to the logs. We provide performance plots, code modification in well known log tools and our experience from trying various storage strategies.

Slides THCHAUST05 [0.377 MB]

THCHMUST02

Control and Test Software for IRAM Widex Correlator

real-time, software, simulation, hardware

1240

S. Blanchet, D. Broguiere, P. Chavatte, F. Morel, A. Perrigouard, M. Torres
IRAM, Saint Martin d'Heres, France

IRAM is an international research institute for radio astronomy. It has designed a new correlator called WideX for the Plateau de Bure interferometer (an array of six 15-meter telescopes) in the French Alps. The device started its official service in February 2010. This correlator must be driven in real-time at 32 Hz for sending parameters and for data acquisition. With 3.67 million channels, distributed over 1792 dedicated chips, that produce a 1.87 Gbits/sec data output rate, the data acquisition and processing and also the automatic hardware-failure detection are big challenges for the software. This article presents the software that has been developed to drive and test the correlator. In particular it presents an innovative usage of a high-speed optical link, initially developed for the CERN ALICE experiment, associated with real-time Linux (RTAI) to achieve our goals.

Slides THCHMUST02 [2.272 MB]

THCHMUST04

Free and Open Source Software at CERN: Integration of Drivers in the Linux Kernel

controls, FPGA, framework, data-acquisition

1248

J.D. González Cobas, S. Iglesias Gonsálvez, J.H. Lewis, J. Serrano, M. Vanga
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
E.G. Cota
Columbia University, NY, USA
A. Rubini, F. Vaga
University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

We describe the experience acquired during the integration of the tsi148 driver into the main Linux kernel tree. The benefits (and some of the drawbacks) for long-term software maintenance are analysed, the most immediate one being the support and quality review added by an enormous community of skilled developers. Indirect consequences are also analysed, and these are no less important: a serious impact in the style of the development process, the use of cutting edge tools and technologies supporting development, the adoption of the very strict standards enforced by the Linux kernel community, etc. These elements were also exported to the hardware development process in our section and we will explain how they were used with a particular example in mind: the development of the FMC family of boards following the Open Hardware philosophy, and how its architecture must fit the Linux model. This delicate interplay of hardware and software architectures is a perfect showcase of the benefits we get from the strategic decision of having our drivers integrated in the kernel. Finally, the case for a whole family of CERN-developed drivers for data acquisition models, the prospects for its integration in the kernel, and the adoption of a model parallel to Comedi, is also taken as an example of how this model will perform in the future.

Slides THCHMUST04 [0.777 MB]

THCHMUST05

The Case for Soft-CPUs in Accelerator Control Systems

FPGA, software, hardware, controls

1252

W.W. Terpstra
GSI, Darmstadt, Germany

The steady improvements in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) performance, size, and cost have driven their ever increasing use in science and industry. As FPGA sizes continue to increase, more and more devices and logic are moved from external chips to FPGAs. For simple hardware devices, the savings in board area and ASIC manufacturing setup are compelling. For more dynamic logic, the trade-off is not always as clear. Traditionally, this has been the domain of CPUs and software programming languages. In hardware designs already including an FPGA, it is tempting to remove the CPU and implement all logic in the FPGA, saving component costs and increasing performance. However, that logic must then be implemented in the more constraining hardware description languages, cannot be as easily debugged or traced, and typically requires significant FPGA area. For performance-critical tasks this trade-off can make sense. However, for the myriad slower and dynamic tasks, software programming languages remain the better choice. One great benefit of a CPU is that it can perform many tasks. Thus, by including a small "Soft-CPU" inside the FPGA, all of the slower tasks can be aggregated into a single component. These tasks may then re-use existing software libraries, debugging techniques, and device drivers, while retaining ready access to the FPGA's internals. This paper discusses requirements for using Soft-CPUs in this niche, especially for the FAIR project. Several open-source alternatives will be compared and recommendations made for the best way to leverage a hybrid design.

Slides THCHMUST05 [0.446 MB]

THDAUST03

The FERMI@Elettra Distributed Real-time Framework

real-time, controls, Ethernet, network

1267

L. Pivetta, G. Gaio, R. Passuello, G. Scalamera
ELETTRA, Basovizza, Italy

Funding: The work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of University and Research under grants FIRB-RBAP045JF2 and FIRB-RBAP06AWK3
FERMI@Elettra is a Free Electron Laser (FEL) based on a 1.5 GeV linac. The pulsed operation of the accelerator and the necessity to characterize and control each electron bunch requires synchronous acquisition of the beam diagnostics together with the ability to drive actuators in real-time at the linac repetition rate. The Adeos/Xenomai real-time extensions have been adopted in order to add real-time capabilities to the Linux based control system computers running the Tango software. A software communication protocol based on gigabit Ethernet and known as Network Reflective Memory (NRM) has been developed to implement a shared memory across the whole control system, allowing computers to communicate in real-time. The NRM architecture, the real-time performance and the integration in the control system are described.

Slides THDAUST03 [0.490 MB]

THDAULT04

Embedded Linux on FPGA Instruments for Control Interface and Remote Management

FPGA, embedded, controls, TANGO

1271

B.K. Huang, R.M. Myers, R.M. Sharples
Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
G. Cunningham, G.A. Naylor
CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
O. Goudard
ESRF, Grenoble, France
J.J. Harrison
Merton College, Oxford, United Kingdom
R.G.L. Vann
York University, Heslington, York, United Kingdom

Funding: This work was part-funded by the RCUK Energy Programme under grant EP/I501045 and the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM and CCFE.
FPGAs are now large enough that they can easily accommodate an embedded 32-bit processor which can be used to great advantage. Running embedded Linux gives the user many more options for interfacing to their FPGA-based instrument, and in some cases this enables removal of the middle-person PC. It is now possible to manage the instrument directly by widely used control systems such EPICS or TANGO. As an example, on MAST (the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, a new vertical feedback system is under development in which waveform coefficients can be changed between plasma discharges to define the plasma position behaviour. Additionally it is possible to use the embedded processor to facilitate remote updating of firmware which, in combination with a watchdog and network booting ensures that full remote management over Ethernet is possible. We also discuss UDP data streaming using embedded Linux and a web based control interface running on the embedded processor to interface to the FPGA board.

Slides THDAULT04 [2.267 MB]

THDAULT06

MARTe Framework: a Middleware for Real-time Applications Development

real-time, controls, framework, hardware

1277

A. Neto, D. Alves, B. Carvalho, P.J. Carvalho, H. Fernandes, D.F. Valcárcel
IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
A. Barbalace, G. Manduchi
Consorzio RFX, Associazione Euratom-ENEA sulla Fusione, Padova, Italy
L. Boncagni
ENEA C.R. Frascati, Frascati (Roma), Italy
G. De Tommasi
CREATE, Napoli, Italy
P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen
CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
F. Sartori
F4E, Barcelona, Spain
R. Vitelli
Università di Roma II Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy
L. Zabeo
ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France

Funding: This work was supported by the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/IST and was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement
The Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) is a C++ framework that provides a development environment for the design and deployment of real-time applications, e.g. control systems. The kernel of MARTe comprises a set of data-driven independent blocks, connected using a shared bus. This modular design enforces a clear boundary between algorithms, hardware interaction and system configuration. The architecture, being multi-platform, facilitates the test and commissioning of new systems, enabling the execution of plant models in offline environments and with the hardware-in-the-loop, whilst also providing a set of non-intrusive introspection and logging facilities. Furthermore, applications can be developed in non real-time environments and deployed in a real-time operating system, using exactly the same code and configuration data. The framework is already being used in several fusion experiments, with control cycles ranging from 50 microseconds to 10 milliseconds exhibiting jitters of less than 2%, using VxWorks, RTAI or Linux. Codes can also be developed and executed in Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X. This paper discusses the main design concepts of MARTe, in particular the architectural choices which enabled the combination of real-time accuracy, performance and robustness with complex and modular data driven applications.

Slides THDAULT06 [1.535 MB]

FRBHMULT05

Middleware Trends and Market Leaders 2011

CORBA, controls, Windows, network

1334

A. Dworak, P. Charrue, F. Ehm, W. Sliwinski, M. Sobczak
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland

The Controls Middleware (CMW) project was launched over ten years ago. Its main goal was to unify middleware solutions used to operate CERN accelerators. An important part of the project, the equipment access library RDA, was based on CORBA, an unquestionable standard at the time. RDA became an operational and critical part of the infrastructure, yet the demanding run-time environment revealed some shortcomings of the system. Accumulation of fixes and workarounds led to unnecessary complexity. RDA became difficult to maintain and to extend. CORBA proved to be rather a cumbersome product than a panacea. Fortunately, many new transport frameworks appeared since then. They boasted a better design, and supported concepts that made them easy to use. Willing to profit from the new libraries, the CMW team updated user requirements, and in their terms investigated eventual CORBA substitutes. The process consisted of several phases: a review of middleware solutions belonging to different categories (e.g. data-centric, object-, and message-oriented) and their applicability to a communication model in RDA; evaluation of several market recognized products and promising start-ups; prototyping of typical communication scenarios; testing the libraries against exceptional situations and errors; verifying that mandatory performance constraints were met. Thanks to the performed investigation the team have selected a few libraries that suit their needs better than CORBA. Further prototyping will select the best candidate.

Slides FRBHMULT05 [8.508 MB]