Author: Lilli, G.
Paper Title Page
TUBL05 Pysmlib: A Python Finite State Machine Library for EPICS 330
 
  • D. Marcato, G. Arena, D. Bortolato, F. Gelain, G. Lilli, V. Martinelli, E. Munaron, M. Roetta, G. Savarese
    INFN/LNL, Legnaro (PD), Italy
  • M.A. Bellato
    INFN- Sez. di Padova, Padova, Italy
 
  In the field of Experimental Physics and Industrial Control Systems (EPICS)*, the traditional tool to implement high level procedures is the Sequencer*. While this is a mature, fast, and well-proven software, it comes with some drawbacks. For example, it’s based on a custom C-like programming language which may be unfamiliar to new users and it often results in complex, hard to read code. This paper presents pysmlib, a free and open source Python library developed as a simpler alternative to the EPICS Sequencer. The library exposes a simple interface to develop event-driven Finite State Machines (FSM), where the inputs are connected to Channel Access Process Variables (PV) thanks to the PyEpics** integration. Other features include parallel FSM with multi-threading support and input sharing, timers, and an integrated watchdog logic. The library offers a lower barrier to enter and greater extensibility thanks to the large ecosystem of scientific and engineering python libraries, making it a perfect fit for modern control system requirements. Pysmlib has been deployed in multiple projects at INFN Legnaro National Laboratories (LNL), proving its robustness and flexibility.
* L. R. Dalesio, M. R. Kraimer, and A. J. Kozubal. "EPICS architecture." ICALEPCS. Vol. 91. 1991.
** M. Newville, et al., pyepics/pyepics Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.592027
 
slides icon Slides TUBL05 [1.705 MB]  
DOI • reference for this paper ※ https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-ICALEPCS2021-TUBL05  
About • Received ※ 08 October 2021       Revised ※ 22 October 2021       Accepted ※ 22 December 2021       Issue date ※ 10 February 2022
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