PCaPAC2022 - Classification: Hardware Technologies and Component Integration, System Modeling and Automation

Paper	Title	Page
THPP5	Laser Pulse Duration Optimization with Numerical Methods	37
THP10	use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code
	F. Capuano, D. Peceli, B. Rus, A. Špaček ELI-BEAMS, Prague, Czech Republic G. Tiboni Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
	In this study we explore the optimization of laser pulse duration to obtain the shortest possible pulse. We do this by employing a feedback loop between a pulse shaper and pulse duration measurements. We apply to this problem several iterative algorithms including gradient descent, Bayesian optimization and genetic algorithms, using a simulation of the actual laser represented via a semi-physical model of the laser based on the process of linear and nonlinear phase accumulation.
	Slides THPP5 [12.978 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THPP5
About •	Received ※ 01 October 2022 — Revised ※ 05 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 07 October 2022 — Issue date ※ 13 December 2022
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

THPP6	Monochromator Controller Based on ALBA Electrometer Em#	41
THP14	use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code
	A. Baucells, G. Agostini, J.A. Avila-Abellan, C. Escudero, O. Matilla, X. Serra-Gallifa, O. Vallcorba ALBA-CELLS, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
	Guaranteeing that the X-Ray beam reaches the experimental station with optimal characteristics is a crucial task in a synchrotron beamline. One of the critical factors which can lead to beam degradation is the thermal drifts and the mechanical inertias present in the optical elements, such as a monochromator. This article shows a new functionality of the ALBA Electrometer (Em#), which ensures that the beamline receives the maximum possible beam intensity during the experiment. From the current reading of an ionization chamber and driving the piezo-actuator pitch of the monochromator, the Em# implements a Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm that detects the peak beam intensity while tracking it. This feature has been tested on NOTOS beamline and the preliminary results of the performance are shown in this paper.
	Slides THPP6 [0.345 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THPP6
About •	Received ※ 30 September 2022 — Revised ※ 05 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 17 February 2023
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

THP11	Development of EPICS Enabled Precision Magnet Power Supply
	A. Roy, S. Pal VECC, Kolkata, India
	The performance of any particle accelerator like cyclotrons largely depends upon the dc precision of the magnetic field of various electromagnetic devices present in the system. The precision magnetic field of the electromagnets in turn are being generated using current regulated power supplies having output current stability ranging from 10ppm to 100ppm as per the beam dynamics and transport requirement. An embedded EPICS based power supply control module is developed as a part of indigenous precision power supply development activity in VECC. The module is designed using an ARM based single-board-computer interfaced with 16bit DAC, 16bitADC and 16 numbers of isolated digital input-outputs. The digital inputs are designed to be interrupt enabled to minimize the response delay. The development of EPICS IOC involves development of device driver for DAC, ADC and digital input and output. The developed module is incorporated in a prototype dc, ±10A / ± 100V, 100ppm stability class, switch-mode type true-bipolar power supply, to be used for the steering magnets of the beam transport line of K-130 Cyclotron. This paper describes the detailed design and testing of the module.
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

THP13	Control and Timing System of a Synchrotron X-Ray Chopper for Time Resolved Experiments	73
	U. Ristau, S. Fiedler, D. Jahn, J. Meyer, V. Palnati EMBL, Hamburg, Germany
	The controls and timing implementation of a mechanical synchrotron light beam chopper device for time resolved experiments at the EMBL Hamburg will be described. The motivation to build a synchrotron beam chopper is on one hand to reduction of radiation on the experimental sample. As result the biological sample survives longer inside the beam. And second the possibility to synchronize the data acquisition with the timed Synchrotron beam. Technically the chopper run stability and the experimental synchronization with the experimental control and the detectors is decisive for implementation. The presented Timing / synchronization system solution is based on EtherCAT electronic. Servers and Clients are integrated into the TINE control system with LabView. The implementation of the motion stability for the Chopper drive and the tuning of motion will be presented within this article as well.
	Poster THP13 [1.790 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THP13
About •	Received ※ 06 October 2022 — Revised ※ 19 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 21 February 2023
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

THP15	Next Generation GSI/FAIR Scalable Control Unit: Lessons Learned from 10 Years in the Field	76
	K. Lüghausen, M. Dziewiecki, K. Kaiser, G.M. May, S. Rauch, M. Thieme GSI, Darmstadt, Germany
	The end-of-life of many components brought the need for a redesign of our main Control System Front-End - the SCU (Scaleable Control Unit). It was a chance to make improvements and use more powerful state-of-the-art core components. This included a new Arria 10 FPGA and a completely redesigned housekeeping circuit based on an AVR microcontroller. Further, the project was cleaned by removing unused components and features. Main frame conditions stay fixed for backward compatibility, like the mechanical form factor or the 16-bit parallel bus. Majority of gateware and firmware could be reused and just some adaptations for the new FPGA were needed. Nevertheless, providing continuous compatibility with legacy peripherals needed a substantial effort.
	Poster THP15 [27.393 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THP15
About •	Received ※ 30 September 2022 — Revised ※ 06 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 01 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 18 February 2023
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

THP23	Code Generation for State Machine Based Control Systems
	B. Plötzeneder ELI-BEAMS, Prague, Czech Republic
	Funding: Supported by the project Advanced research using high intensity laser produced photons and particles (ADONIS) CZ.02.1.01/0.0./0.0/16₀19/0000789 from European Regional Develepment Fund (ERDF). Many subsystems at ELI Beamlines (for example vacuum, pneumatic, machine and personal safety systems) can be described as a set of interacting state machines whose outputs are controlled by their states. We generate software for their control systems from a standardised spreadsheet-based description of the state machine logic; supporting different hardware platforms: PILZ safety PLCs, B&R PLCs and National Instruments FPGA devices. This approach allows us to eliminate errors in programming individual applications, and to focus entirely on system logic. The spreadsheets are used both as system documentation and programming tool; avoiding discrepancies between documentation and implementation. We have also developed tools for simulation and debugging of the resulting control systems based on these descriptions.
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

FRO11	Taskomat & Taskolib: A Versatile, Programmable Sequencer for Process Automation	94
	L. Fröhlich, O. Hensler, U. Jastrow, M. Walla, J. Wilgen DESY, Hamburg, Germany
	This contribution introduces the Taskolib library, a powerful framework for automating processes. Users can easily assemble sequences out of process steps, execute these sequences, and follow their progress. Individual steps are fully programmable in the lightweight Lua language. If desired, sequences can be enhanced with flow control via well-known constructs such as IF, WHILE, or TRY. The library is written in platform-independent C++17 and carries no dependency on any specific control system or communication framework. Instead, such dependencies are injected by client code; as an example, the integration with a DOOCS server and a graphical user interface is demonstrated.
	Slides FRO11 [3.529 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-FRO11
About •	Received ※ 26 September 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 17 February 2023
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

FRO12	Autoparam, a Generic Asyn Port Driver with Dynamic Parameters	98
	J. Varlec COSYLAB, Control System Laboratory, Ljubljana, Slovenia
	Implementing EPICS device support for a specific device can be tricky; implementing generic device support that can integrate different kinds of devices sharing a common interface is trickier still. Yet such a driver can save a lot of time down the road. A well-known example is the Modbus EPICS module: the same support module can be used to integrate any device that speaks the Modbus protocol. It is up to the EPICS database to map device registers to EPICS records. Because no changes to the driver code are needed to integrate a device, a lot of effort is saved. At Cosylab, we often encounter device controllers that speak bespoke protocols. To facilitate development of generic drivers, we wrote the Autoparam EPICS module. It is a base class derived from asynPortDriver that handles low-level details that are common to all generic drivers: it creates handles for device data based on information provided in EPICS records and provides facilities for handling hardware interrupts. Moreover, it strives to provide a more ergonomic API for handling device functions than vanilla asynPortDriver.
	Slides FRO12 [1.653 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-FRO12
About •	Received ※ 27 September 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 20 February 2023
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

FRO13	Progression Towards Adaptability in the PLC Library at the EuXFEL	102
	T. Freyermuth, B. Baranasic, M. Bueno, N. Coppola, L. Feltrin Zanellatto, P. Gessler, G. Giovanetti, S. Hauf, S.T. Huynh, N. Jardón Bueno, N. Mashayekh, A. Silenzi, M. Stupar, M. Teichmann, J. Tolkiehn EuXFEL, Schenefeld, Germany
	In 2011, the European X-Ray Free Electron Laser (EuXFEL) commenced parallel developments of their control system (Karabo) and the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) library. The PLC library was designed to control basic beamline components and under the initial assumptions, the automation component was deferred to the control system layer. After five years of operation, it can be seen that not all initial assumptions scaled well to the operational needs of the facility resulting in limitations hindering progress. Having identified these issues, the PLC development is now focused on providing a more cohesive and adaptable solution. In utilizing the IEC61131-3 (3rd edition) features, the PLC library has been restructured towards a layered architecture with loose coupling between function blocks. The ultimate goal will be to achieve a PLC library which is not only test driven and capable of quickly integrating in new devices, but can achieve dynamic linking not only between hardware and software, but also across software devices, aiding the rapid development of more complex hardware integration and higher-level automation.
	Slides FRO13 [0.398 MB]
DOI •	reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-FRO13
About •	Received ※ 30 September 2022 — Revised ※ 07 February 2023 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 17 February 2023
Cite •	reference for this paper using ※ BibTeX, ※ LaTeX, ※ Text/Word, ※ RIS, ※ EndNote (xml)

Paper

Title

Page

THPP5

Laser Pulse Duration Optimization with Numerical Methods

37

THP10

use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code

F. Capuano, D. Peceli, B. Rus, A. Špaček
ELI-BEAMS, Prague, Czech Republic
G. Tiboni
Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

In this study we explore the optimization of laser pulse duration to obtain the shortest possible pulse. We do this by employing a feedback loop between a pulse shaper and pulse duration measurements. We apply to this problem several iterative algorithms including gradient descent, Bayesian optimization and genetic algorithms, using a simulation of the actual laser represented via a semi-physical model of the laser based on the process of linear and nonlinear phase accumulation.

Slides THPP5 [12.978 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THPP5

About •

Received ※ 01 October 2022 — Revised ※ 05 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 07 October 2022 — Issue date ※ 13 December 2022

Cite •

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

THPP6

Monochromator Controller Based on ALBA Electrometer Em#

41

THP14

use link to see paper's listing under its alternate paper code

A. Baucells, G. Agostini, J.A. Avila-Abellan, C. Escudero, O. Matilla, X. Serra-Gallifa, O. Vallcorba
ALBA-CELLS, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

Guaranteeing that the X-Ray beam reaches the experimental station with optimal characteristics is a crucial task in a synchrotron beamline. One of the critical factors which can lead to beam degradation is the thermal drifts and the mechanical inertias present in the optical elements, such as a monochromator. This article shows a new functionality of the ALBA Electrometer (Em#), which ensures that the beamline receives the maximum possible beam intensity during the experiment. From the current reading of an ionization chamber and driving the piezo-actuator pitch of the monochromator, the Em# implements a Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm that detects the peak beam intensity while tracking it. This feature has been tested on NOTOS beamline and the preliminary results of the performance are shown in this paper.

Slides THPP6 [0.345 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THPP6

About •

Received ※ 30 September 2022 — Revised ※ 05 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 17 February 2023

Cite •

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

THP11

Development of EPICS Enabled Precision Magnet Power Supply

A. Roy, S. Pal
VECC, Kolkata, India

The performance of any particle accelerator like cyclotrons largely depends upon the dc precision of the magnetic field of various electromagnetic devices present in the system. The precision magnetic field of the electromagnets in turn are being generated using current regulated power supplies having output current stability ranging from 10ppm to 100ppm as per the beam dynamics and transport requirement. An embedded EPICS based power supply control module is developed as a part of indigenous precision power supply development activity in VECC. The module is designed using an ARM based single-board-computer interfaced with 16bit DAC, 16bitADC and 16 numbers of isolated digital input-outputs. The digital inputs are designed to be interrupt enabled to minimize the response delay. The development of EPICS IOC involves development of device driver for DAC, ADC and digital input and output. The developed module is incorporated in a prototype dc, ±10A / ± 100V, 100ppm stability class, switch-mode type true-bipolar power supply, to be used for the steering magnets of the beam transport line of K-130 Cyclotron. This paper describes the detailed design and testing of the module.

Cite •

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

THP13

Control and Timing System of a Synchrotron X-Ray Chopper for Time Resolved Experiments

73

U. Ristau, S. Fiedler, D. Jahn, J. Meyer, V. Palnati
EMBL, Hamburg, Germany

The controls and timing implementation of a mechanical synchrotron light beam chopper device for time resolved experiments at the EMBL Hamburg will be described. The motivation to build a synchrotron beam chopper is on one hand to reduction of radiation on the experimental sample. As result the biological sample survives longer inside the beam. And second the possibility to synchronize the data acquisition with the timed Synchrotron beam. Technically the chopper run stability and the experimental synchronization with the experimental control and the detectors is decisive for implementation. The presented Timing / synchronization system solution is based on EtherCAT electronic. Servers and Clients are integrated into the TINE control system with LabView. The implementation of the motion stability for the Chopper drive and the tuning of motion will be presented within this article as well.

Poster THP13 [1.790 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THP13

About •

Received ※ 06 October 2022 — Revised ※ 19 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 21 February 2023

Cite •

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

THP15

Next Generation GSI/FAIR Scalable Control Unit: Lessons Learned from 10 Years in the Field

76

K. Lüghausen, M. Dziewiecki, K. Kaiser, G.M. May, S. Rauch, M. Thieme
GSI, Darmstadt, Germany

The end-of-life of many components brought the need for a redesign of our main Control System Front-End - the SCU (Scaleable Control Unit). It was a chance to make improvements and use more powerful state-of-the-art core components. This included a new Arria 10 FPGA and a completely redesigned housekeeping circuit based on an AVR microcontroller. Further, the project was cleaned by removing unused components and features. Main frame conditions stay fixed for backward compatibility, like the mechanical form factor or the 16-bit parallel bus. Majority of gateware and firmware could be reused and just some adaptations for the new FPGA were needed. Nevertheless, providing continuous compatibility with legacy peripherals needed a substantial effort.

Poster THP15 [27.393 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-THP15

About •

Received ※ 30 September 2022 — Revised ※ 06 October 2022 — Accepted ※ 01 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 18 February 2023

Cite •

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

THP23

Code Generation for State Machine Based Control Systems

B. Plötzeneder
ELI-BEAMS, Prague, Czech Republic

Funding: Supported by the project Advanced research using high intensity laser produced photons and particles (ADONIS) CZ.02.1.01/0.0./0.0/16₀19/0000789 from European Regional Develepment Fund (ERDF).
Many subsystems at ELI Beamlines (for example vacuum, pneumatic, machine and personal safety systems) can be described as a set of interacting state machines whose outputs are controlled by their states. We generate software for their control systems from a standardised spreadsheet-based description of the state machine logic; supporting different hardware platforms: PILZ safety PLCs, B&R PLCs and National Instruments FPGA devices. This approach allows us to eliminate errors in programming individual applications, and to focus entirely on system logic. The spreadsheets are used both as system documentation and programming tool; avoiding discrepancies between documentation and implementation. We have also developed tools for simulation and debugging of the resulting control systems based on these descriptions.

Cite •

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

FRO11

Taskomat & Taskolib: A Versatile, Programmable Sequencer for Process Automation

94

L. Fröhlich, O. Hensler, U. Jastrow, M. Walla, J. Wilgen
DESY, Hamburg, Germany

This contribution introduces the Taskolib library, a powerful framework for automating processes. Users can easily assemble sequences out of process steps, execute these sequences, and follow their progress. Individual steps are fully programmable in the lightweight Lua language. If desired, sequences can be enhanced with flow control via well-known constructs such as IF, WHILE, or TRY. The library is written in platform-independent C++17 and carries no dependency on any specific control system or communication framework. Instead, such dependencies are injected by client code; as an example, the integration with a DOOCS server and a graphical user interface is demonstrated.

Slides FRO11 [3.529 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-FRO11

About •

Received ※ 26 September 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 17 February 2023

Cite •

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

FRO12

Autoparam, a Generic Asyn Port Driver with Dynamic Parameters

98

J. Varlec
COSYLAB, Control System Laboratory, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Implementing EPICS device support for a specific device can be tricky; implementing generic device support that can integrate different kinds of devices sharing a common interface is trickier still. Yet such a driver can save a lot of time down the road. A well-known example is the Modbus EPICS module: the same support module can be used to integrate any device that speaks the Modbus protocol. It is up to the EPICS database to map device registers to EPICS records. Because no changes to the driver code are needed to integrate a device, a lot of effort is saved. At Cosylab, we often encounter device controllers that speak bespoke protocols. To facilitate development of generic drivers, we wrote the Autoparam EPICS module. It is a base class derived from asynPortDriver that handles low-level details that are common to all generic drivers: it creates handles for device data based on information provided in EPICS records and provides facilities for handling hardware interrupts. Moreover, it strives to provide a more ergonomic API for handling device functions than vanilla asynPortDriver.

Slides FRO12 [1.653 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-FRO12

About •

Received ※ 27 September 2022 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 20 February 2023

Cite •

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

FRO13

Progression Towards Adaptability in the PLC Library at the EuXFEL

102

T. Freyermuth, B. Baranasic, M. Bueno, N. Coppola, L. Feltrin Zanellatto, P. Gessler, G. Giovanetti, S. Hauf, S.T. Huynh, N. Jardón Bueno, N. Mashayekh, A. Silenzi, M. Stupar, M. Teichmann, J. Tolkiehn
EuXFEL, Schenefeld, Germany

In 2011, the European X-Ray Free Electron Laser (EuXFEL) commenced parallel developments of their control system (Karabo) and the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) library. The PLC library was designed to control basic beamline components and under the initial assumptions, the automation component was deferred to the control system layer. After five years of operation, it can be seen that not all initial assumptions scaled well to the operational needs of the facility resulting in limitations hindering progress. Having identified these issues, the PLC development is now focused on providing a more cohesive and adaptable solution. In utilizing the IEC61131-3 (3rd edition) features, the PLC library has been restructured towards a layered architecture with loose coupling between function blocks. The ultimate goal will be to achieve a PLC library which is not only test driven and capable of quickly integrating in new devices, but can achieve dynamic linking not only between hardware and software, but also across software devices, aiding the rapid development of more complex hardware integration and higher-level automation.

Slides FRO13 [0.398 MB]

DOI •

reference for this paper ※ doi:10.18429/JACoW-PCaPAC2022-FRO13

About •

Received ※ 30 September 2022 — Revised ※ 07 February 2023 — Accepted ※ 15 February 2023 — Issue date ※ 17 February 2023

Cite •

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