ICALEPCS2011 - Table of Session: THBHAU (Operation Tools)

Paper

Title

Page

SNS Online Display Technologies for EPICS

1178

K.-U. Kasemir, X.H. Chen, E. Danilova, J.D. Purcell
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA

Funding: SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 for the U.S. Department of Energy
The ubiquitousness of web clients from personal computers to cell phones results in a growing demand for web-based access to control system data. At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) we have investigated different technical approaches to provide read access to data in the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) for a wide variety of web client devices. We compare them in terms of requirements, performance and ease of maintenance.

Slides THBHAUST01 [3.040 MB]

THBHAUST02

The Wonderland of Operating the ALICE Experiment

1182

A. Augustinus, P.Ch. Chochula, G. De Cataldo, L.S. Jirdén, A.N. Kurepin, M. Lechman, O. Pinazza, P. Rosinský
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
A. Moreno
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S.I Industriales, Madrid, Spain

ALICE is one of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN (Geneva, Switzerland). Composed of 18 sub-detectors each with numerous subsystems that need to be controlled and operated in a safe and efficient way. The Detector Control System (DCS) is the key for this and has been used by detector experts with success during the commissioning of the individual detectors. With the transition from commissioning to operation more and more tasks were transferred from detector experts to central operators. By the end of the 2010 datataking campaign the ALICE experiment was run by a small crew of central operators, with only a single controls operator. The transition from expert to non-expert operation constituted a real challenge in terms of tools, documentation and training. In addition a relatively high turnover and diversity in the operator crew that is specific to the HEP experiment environment (as opposed to the more stable operation crews for accelerators) made this challenge even bigger. This paper describes the original architectural choices that were made and the key components that allowed to come to a homogeneous control system that would allow for efficient centralized operation. Challenges and specific constraints that apply to the operation of a large complex experiment are described. Emphasis will be put on the tools and procedures that were implemented to allow the transition from local detector expert operation during commissioning and early operation, to efficient centralized operation by a small operator crew not necessarily consisting of experts.

Slides THBHAUST02 [1.933 MB]

THBHAUST03

Purpose and Benefit of Control System Training for Operators

1186

E. Zimoch, A. Lüdeke
Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

The complexity of accelerators is ever increasing and today it is typical that a large number of feedback loops are implemented, based on sophisticated models which describe the underlying physics. Despite this increased complexity the machine operators must still effectively monitor and supervise the desired behaviour of the accelerator. This is not alone sufficient; additionally, the correct operation of the control system must also be verified. This is not always easy since the structure, design, and performance of the control system is usually not visualized and is often hidden to the operator. To better deal with this situation operators need some knowledge of the control system in order to react properly in the case of problems. In this paper we will present the approach of the Paul Scherrer Institute for operator control system training and discuss its benefits.

Slides THBHAUST03 [4.407 MB]

THBHAUST04

jddd, a State-of-the-art Solution for Control Panel Development

1189

E. Sombrowski, A. Petrosyan, K. Rehlich, W. Schütte
DESY, Hamburg, Germany

Software for graphical user interfaces to control systems may be developed as a rich or thin client. The thin client approach has the advantage that anyone can create and modify control system panels without specific skills in software programming. The Java DOOCS Data Display, jddd, is based on the thin client interaction model. It provides "Include" components and address inheritance for the creation of generic displays. Wildcard operations and regular expression filters are used to customize the graphics content at runtime, e.g. in a "DynamicList" component the parameters have to be painted only once in edit mode and then are automatically displayed multiple times for all available instances in run mode. This paper will describe the benefits of using jddd for control panel design as an alternative to rich client development.

Slides THBHAUST04 [0.687 MB]

THBHAUST05

First Operation of the Wide-area Remote Experiment System

1193

Y. Furukawa, K. Hasegawa
JASRI/SPring-8, Hyogo-ken, Japan
G. Ueno
RIKEN Spring-8 Harima, Hyogo, Japan

The Wide-area Remote Experiment System (WRES) at the SPring-8 has been successfully developed [1]. The system communicates with the remote user's based on the SSL/TLS with the bi-directional authentication to avoid the interference from non-authorized access to the system. The system has message filtering system to allow remote user access only to the corresponding beamline equipment and safety interlock system to protect persons aside the experimental station from accidental motion of heavy equipment. The system also has a video streaming system to monitor samples or experimental equipment. We have tested the system from the point of view of safety, stability, reliability etc. and successfully made first experiment from remote site of RIKEN Wako site 480km away from SPring-8 in the end of October 2010.
[1] Y. Furukawa, K. Hasegawa, D. Maeda, G. Ueno, "Development of remote experiment system", Proc. ICALEPCS 2009(Kobe, Japan) P.615

Slides THBHAUST05 [5.455 MB]

THBHAUIO06

Cognitive Ergonomics of Operational Tools

1196

A. Lüdeke
Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland

Control systems have become continuously more powerful over the past decades. The ability for high data throughput and sophisticated graphical interactions have opened a variety of new possibilities. But has it helped to provide intuitive, easy to use applications to simplify the operation of modern large scale accelerator facilities? We will discuss what makes an application useful to operation and what is necessary to make a tool easy to use. We will show that even the implementation of a small number of simple design rules for applications can help to ease the operation of a facility.

Slides THBHAUIO06 [23.914 MB]

Paper	Title	Page
THBHAUST01	SNS Online Display Technologies for EPICS	1178
	K.-U. Kasemir, X.H. Chen, E. Danilova, J.D. Purcell ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
	Funding: SNS is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 for the U.S. Department of Energy The ubiquitousness of web clients from personal computers to cell phones results in a growing demand for web-based access to control system data. At the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) we have investigated different technical approaches to provide read access to data in the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) for a wide variety of web client devices. We compare them in terms of requirements, performance and ease of maintenance.
	Slides THBHAUST01 [3.040 MB]

THBHAUST02	The Wonderland of Operating the ALICE Experiment	1182
	A. Augustinus, P.Ch. Chochula, G. De Cataldo, L.S. Jirdén, A.N. Kurepin, M. Lechman, O. Pinazza, P. Rosinský CERN, Geneva, Switzerland A. Moreno Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S.I Industriales, Madrid, Spain
	ALICE is one of the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN (Geneva, Switzerland). Composed of 18 sub-detectors each with numerous subsystems that need to be controlled and operated in a safe and efficient way. The Detector Control System (DCS) is the key for this and has been used by detector experts with success during the commissioning of the individual detectors. With the transition from commissioning to operation more and more tasks were transferred from detector experts to central operators. By the end of the 2010 datataking campaign the ALICE experiment was run by a small crew of central operators, with only a single controls operator. The transition from expert to non-expert operation constituted a real challenge in terms of tools, documentation and training. In addition a relatively high turnover and diversity in the operator crew that is specific to the HEP experiment environment (as opposed to the more stable operation crews for accelerators) made this challenge even bigger. This paper describes the original architectural choices that were made and the key components that allowed to come to a homogeneous control system that would allow for efficient centralized operation. Challenges and specific constraints that apply to the operation of a large complex experiment are described. Emphasis will be put on the tools and procedures that were implemented to allow the transition from local detector expert operation during commissioning and early operation, to efficient centralized operation by a small operator crew not necessarily consisting of experts.
	Slides THBHAUST02 [1.933 MB]

THBHAUST03	Purpose and Benefit of Control System Training for Operators	1186
	E. Zimoch, A. Lüdeke Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
	The complexity of accelerators is ever increasing and today it is typical that a large number of feedback loops are implemented, based on sophisticated models which describe the underlying physics. Despite this increased complexity the machine operators must still effectively monitor and supervise the desired behaviour of the accelerator. This is not alone sufficient; additionally, the correct operation of the control system must also be verified. This is not always easy since the structure, design, and performance of the control system is usually not visualized and is often hidden to the operator. To better deal with this situation operators need some knowledge of the control system in order to react properly in the case of problems. In this paper we will present the approach of the Paul Scherrer Institute for operator control system training and discuss its benefits.
	Slides THBHAUST03 [4.407 MB]

THBHAUST04	jddd, a State-of-the-art Solution for Control Panel Development	1189
	E. Sombrowski, A. Petrosyan, K. Rehlich, W. Schütte DESY, Hamburg, Germany
	Software for graphical user interfaces to control systems may be developed as a rich or thin client. The thin client approach has the advantage that anyone can create and modify control system panels without specific skills in software programming. The Java DOOCS Data Display, jddd, is based on the thin client interaction model. It provides "Include" components and address inheritance for the creation of generic displays. Wildcard operations and regular expression filters are used to customize the graphics content at runtime, e.g. in a "DynamicList" component the parameters have to be painted only once in edit mode and then are automatically displayed multiple times for all available instances in run mode. This paper will describe the benefits of using jddd for control panel design as an alternative to rich client development.
	Slides THBHAUST04 [0.687 MB]

THBHAUST05	First Operation of the Wide-area Remote Experiment System	1193
	Y. Furukawa, K. Hasegawa JASRI/SPring-8, Hyogo-ken, Japan G. Ueno RIKEN Spring-8 Harima, Hyogo, Japan
	The Wide-area Remote Experiment System (WRES) at the SPring-8 has been successfully developed [1]. The system communicates with the remote user's based on the SSL/TLS with the bi-directional authentication to avoid the interference from non-authorized access to the system. The system has message filtering system to allow remote user access only to the corresponding beamline equipment and safety interlock system to protect persons aside the experimental station from accidental motion of heavy equipment. The system also has a video streaming system to monitor samples or experimental equipment. We have tested the system from the point of view of safety, stability, reliability etc. and successfully made first experiment from remote site of RIKEN Wako site 480km away from SPring-8 in the end of October 2010. [1] Y. Furukawa, K. Hasegawa, D. Maeda, G. Ueno, "Development of remote experiment system", Proc. ICALEPCS 2009(Kobe, Japan) P.615
	Slides THBHAUST05 [5.455 MB]

THBHAUIO06	Cognitive Ergonomics of Operational Tools	1196
	A. Lüdeke Paul Scherrer Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
	Control systems have become continuously more powerful over the past decades. The ability for high data throughput and sophisticated graphical interactions have opened a variety of new possibilities. But has it helped to provide intuitive, easy to use applications to simplify the operation of modern large scale accelerator facilities? We will discuss what makes an application useful to operation and what is necessary to make a tool easy to use. We will show that even the implementation of a small number of simple design rules for applications can help to ease the operation of a facility.
	Slides THBHAUIO06 [23.914 MB]