ICALEPCS2021 - List of Authors (Harper, J.R.)

Paper	Title	Page
TUPV048	Updates and Remote Challenges for IBEX, Beamline Control at ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source	514
	F.A. Akeroyd, K.V.L. Baker, L. Cole, J.R. Harper, D.P. Keymer, J.C. King, A.J. Long, T. Löhnert, C. Moreton-Smith, D.E. Oram, B. Rai STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
	IBEX is the EPICS based experiment control system now running on most of the beamlines at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, with plans to deploy to all remaining beamlines by the end of the upcoming long shutdown. Over the last couple of years we have added support for reflectometry and muon instruments, developed a script generator, moved from Python 2 to Python 3, and continued to build on our suite of device emulators and tests. The reflectometry inclusions required the development of a framework to maintain the complex motion control requirements for that science technique. Whilst it is desirable that IBEX is easily configurable, not all operations should be available to all users, so we have implemented functionality to manage such access. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant we have also had to adapt to greater amounts of remote experiment access, for which we developed systems covering both IBEX and the old SECI control system. This presentation will aim to provide a brief update on the recent changes to IBEX, as well as outlining the remote operation solutions employed
	Poster TUPV048 [1.332 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2021-TUPV048
About •	Received ※ 10 October 2021 Revised ※ 18 October 2021 Accepted ※ 20 November 2021 Issue date ※ 14 March 2022
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPV049	The IBEX Script Generator	519
	J.C. King, J.R. Harper, A.J. Long, T. Löhnert, D.E. Oram STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
	Experiment scripting is a key element of maximising utilisation of beam time at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, but can be prone to typing and logic errors. The IBEX Script Generator enables collaboration between instrument users and scientists to remove the need to write a script for many experiments, so improving reliability and control. For maximum applicability, the script generator needs to be easily configurable. Instrument scientists define action parameters, and functions for action execution, time estimation and validation, to produce a "script definition". A user then generates a Python script by organising a table of actions and their values, which are validated in real time, and can then be submitted to a script server for execution. Py4J is used to bridge a Java front end with Python script definitions. An iterative user-focused approach has been employed with Squish UI testing to achieve a behaviour-driven development workflow, along with Jenkins for continuous integration. Further planned development includes dynamic scripting ’ controlling the execution of actions during the experiment ’ action iteration and user experience improvement.
	Poster TUPV049 [1.051 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2021-TUPV049
About •	Received ※ 09 October 2021 Revised ※ 19 October 2021 Accepted ※ 20 November 2021 Issue date ※ 23 November 2021
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

WEBL03	Managing high-performance data flows and file structures
	J.M.C. Nilsson, T.S. Richter ESS, Copenhagen, Denmark J.R. Harper STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom M.D. Jones Tessella, Abingdon, United Kingdom
	The beam intensity at the European Spallation Source will necessitate a high performance acquisition and recording system for the data from the user experiments. In addition to high neutron counts rates the expected large number of dynamic measurements per day calls for a flexible system that supports a high variability in sample set-ups. Apache Kafka has been chosen as the central data switchboard to handle all the event driven data sources from detectors as well as from the EPICS controls system. The file writing system centres around a facility wide pool of HDF5 file-writers that uses Apache Kafka also for command and control. File-writing jobs are posted to a topic on Apache Kafka and picked up by individual workers. This centralises and optimises resources, as I/O load can be balanced between different neutron instruments. Command messages embed a NeXus compliant structure to capture the raw data in a community agreed format. To simplify correctly defining the file structure, physical device locations can the visualised. Data inspection can be applied to find available data sources and easily allocate them locations in the file.
	Slides WEBL03 [1.851 MB]
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

Paper

Title

Page

Updates and Remote Challenges for IBEX, Beamline Control at ISIS Pulsed Neutron and Muon Source

514

F.A. Akeroyd, K.V.L. Baker, L. Cole, J.R. Harper, D.P. Keymer, J.C. King, A.J. Long, T. Löhnert, C. Moreton-Smith, D.E. Oram, B. Rai
STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom

IBEX is the EPICS based experiment control system now running on most of the beamlines at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, with plans to deploy to all remaining beamlines by the end of the upcoming long shutdown. Over the last couple of years we have added support for reflectometry and muon instruments, developed a script generator, moved from Python 2 to Python 3, and continued to build on our suite of device emulators and tests. The reflectometry inclusions required the development of a framework to maintain the complex motion control requirements for that science technique. Whilst it is desirable that IBEX is easily configurable, not all operations should be available to all users, so we have implemented functionality to manage such access. The COVID-19 pandemic has meant we have also had to adapt to greater amounts of remote experiment access, for which we developed systems covering both IBEX and the old SECI control system. This presentation will aim to provide a brief update on the recent changes to IBEX, as well as outlining the remote operation solutions employed

Poster TUPV048 [1.332 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2021-TUPV048

About •

Received ※ 10 October 2021 Revised ※ 18 October 2021 Accepted ※ 20 November 2021 Issue date ※ 14 March 2022

Cite •

reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

TUPV049

The IBEX Script Generator

519

J.C. King, J.R. Harper, A.J. Long, T. Löhnert, D.E. Oram
STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom

Experiment scripting is a key element of maximising utilisation of beam time at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, but can be prone to typing and logic errors. The IBEX Script Generator enables collaboration between instrument users and scientists to remove the need to write a script for many experiments, so improving reliability and control. For maximum applicability, the script generator needs to be easily configurable. Instrument scientists define action parameters, and functions for action execution, time estimation and validation, to produce a "script definition". A user then generates a Python script by organising a table of actions and their values, which are validated in real time, and can then be submitted to a script server for execution. Py4J is used to bridge a Java front end with Python script definitions. An iterative user-focused approach has been employed with Squish UI testing to achieve a behaviour-driven development workflow, along with Jenkins for continuous integration. Further planned development includes dynamic scripting ’ controlling the execution of actions during the experiment ’ action iteration and user experience improvement.

Poster TUPV049 [1.051 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2021-TUPV049

About •

Received ※ 09 October 2021 Revised ※ 19 October 2021 Accepted ※ 20 November 2021 Issue date ※ 23 November 2021

Cite •

reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

WEBL03

Managing high-performance data flows and file structures

J.M.C. Nilsson, T.S. Richter
ESS, Copenhagen, Denmark
J.R. Harper
STFC/RAL/ISIS, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, United Kingdom
M.D. Jones
Tessella, Abingdon, United Kingdom

The beam intensity at the European Spallation Source will necessitate a high performance acquisition and recording system for the data from the user experiments. In addition to high neutron counts rates the expected large number of dynamic measurements per day calls for a flexible system that supports a high variability in sample set-ups. Apache Kafka has been chosen as the central data switchboard to handle all the event driven data sources from detectors as well as from the EPICS controls system. The file writing system centres around a facility wide pool of HDF5 file-writers that uses Apache Kafka also for command and control. File-writing jobs are posted to a topic on Apache Kafka and picked up by individual workers. This centralises and optimises resources, as I/O load can be balanced between different neutron instruments. Command messages embed a NeXus compliant structure to capture the raw data in a community agreed format. To simplify correctly defining the file structure, physical device locations can the visualised. Data inspection can be applied to find available data sources and easily allocate them locations in the file.

Slides WEBL03 [1.851 MB]

Cite •

reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)