I will present an overview and demonstration of the areaDetector framework. areaDetector is widely used for interfacing EPICS to a variety of 2-D detectors, including those for visible light imaging, spectroscopy, and X-rays. It has a rich set of plugins for image statistics, transformation, file saving, etc. I will present a demonstration using a simulation detector and a real camera.
Perspective gained in the process of learning about EPICS systems and architectures as part of Electron Ion Collider design work will be shared from the point of view of a developer that is new to the ecosystem. Highlights related to positive and negative experiences will be addressed.
A brief overview of the ACORN Project and current status.
In recent years, the construction of European Spallation Source, including the control system, has progressed very rapidly and we are operating a substantial number of IOCs in production. Our goal from early on has been to apply comprehensively the new emerging features of EPICS; accordingly the talk will cover the status of our use of EPICS 7. Our underlying system architecture, in particular...
Apart from moving from Debian to RHEL as a baseline operating system, the NSLS-II facility has embraced a plethora of new powerful automation and orchestration tools. Changes to how we manage our systems have brought along new considerations and approaches in the areas of EPICS software packaging, distribution, IOC code management, and deployment. The talk covers updates in these areas, and...
The Electron Ion Collider Project will involve the deployment of a large number of Front End Computers of a novel SoC design that is intended as a Common Platform across many sub-systems will a spectrum of performance requirements. We'll describe the previous experience building a custom carrier + daughter card platform, the current platform generation designs and statuses for EIC, as well as...
ALS has a long history behind. The ALS-U upgrade project is on the way in parallel with the ALS routine operation. The intention of this presentation is to show the recent changes to the ALS control system which are aligned with the ALS-U upgrade project.
NASA's Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility (ATF, formerly Plum Brook Station) is a 6,400 acre (26 km^2) research campus in Sandusky, Ohio that operates a number of unique world-class test facilities which are used by NASA, other governmental agencies, and the private sector to conduct full service facility and test system preparation for complex and innovative research and flight programs. The...
Most APS beamlines are using VME crates as a major part of their control system.
The VME hardware is expensive and becoming obsolete, with replacements for many of the above items no longer available. The VxWorks software is also expensive.
I am leading an effort at sector 13 to completely eliminate the 7 VME systems during the dark year.
I plan to install the following to...
Detectors based on TimePix3 chips are complementary to existing image-based detectors. In addition to the 2D image, the TimePix3 chip allows the collection of time information of each hit down to the nanosecond level. The timing capabilities allow new possibilities in particle and photon data collection, by providing not only characterization of accelerator source but also science related to...
In order to increase data acquisition rates and to lower complexity at the embedded level, Fermilab Instrumentation is developing a Ethernet field bus to communicate with a centralized middle layer utilizing Redis. Each embedded node will stream data to the middle layer where post processing can be done via micro services in containers. All data, including raw and processed wave forms, will...
ESS moved to CS-Studio Phoebus in 2019 and we have since then worked with the framework together with the community.
We have put in a lot of effort with the Logbook (Olog) and Save & Restore (based on MASAR).
IPv6 has been around since 1995, but EPICS has so far only supported IPv4. This will be a high level introduction to IPv6, what basic changes are necessary to existing IPv4 code, and what has been done for PV Access.
ACORN Human Factors: This presentation details an introduction to human factors and how Fermilab is enabling user-centered designs & processes for the ACORN project. Presentation topics include how a combination of design standardization and customization will enable more intuitive operations and reduce cognitive overwhelm & burnout.
A high-performance data acquisition system (DAQ) has been under active development to meet APS-U needs. It takes data from underneath FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and streams it to its downstream users. The APS-U DAQ system software framework is implemented as a major portion of APS-U new control system software infrastructure, which is called C2. To visualize the DAQ data on the fly,...
Machine Learning is a field of study that uses advanced algorithms and mathematical models to enable computers or machines to learn from data and make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed. In ML, data is used as a basis for training algorithms or models, which then analyze the data and identify patterns or relationships within it. These patterns are used to make...
This talk will include
- Discussion on FPGA-based system architectures, used in current AI/ML projects for accelerator applications.
- Lessons learned about interfaces along data signal path will focus on READS project.
A high-volume, time-series, database for experimental data. Presentation of initial work carried out by Osprey DCS towards providing a specially designed timeseries database that can ingest and correlate data at high-speed, and can be used to feed ML systems.
An overview of Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) for accelerator control.
ChannelFinder started as a simple directory service to address some of the limitations of EPICS's flat name space. Over the past few release the ChannelFinder infrastructure has expanded to provide additional features to manage the configuration of multiple services to supporting a pvAccess name server.
Recent work on PVXS, including to as a replacement for pva2pva.
EPICS Base 7.0.7 was released in September 2022, and the changes introduced there were described in a talk given by Ralph Lange at the EPICS meeting in Slovenia. This talk will briefly recap the main changes included in 7.0.7 and will then describe what has happened in Base since, including the code and documentation enhancements developed by attendees of the EPICS Codeathon hosted by Diamond in March.
The Fermilab Accelerator Directorate Robotics Initiative is working to develop and deploy robots in the accelerator tunnels to aid in observation and measurements in harsh environments to reduce personnel exposure and beam-off time. Longer term goals of the collaboration include telemanipulation of parts, autonomous navigation, and automation of repetitive tasks. One possible method of...
Fermilab has not been a traditional EPICS house, though there have been and still are some instances on site. We have now deployed an infrastructure designed to simplify, non-expert building of EPICS applications, both IOCs and user applications using a CI/CD pipeline. The status of this EPICS deployment at Fermilab will be summarized.
A short overview of the EPICS documentation on the web will be presented, along with some new ideas to make the documentation easier to find and also make it easier to contribute to documentation.
In a collaborational effort (ITER/HZB-BESSY/ESS/PSI), a Device Support for the OPC UA industrial SCADA protocol is under development. Goals, status and roadmap will be presented.
To support ITER's remote participation plans while honoring cybersecurity requirements, we are currently developing a new implementation of an "EPICS Diode", mirroring EPICS PVs through a strictly one-directional network connection.
Back in March, Diamond was hosting the 2023 EPICS Codeathon event.
Diamond are working on developing Ophyd v2, part of the Bluesky framework.
Ophyd v2 uses lessons learnt from Ophyd and Malcolm, the hardware scanning engine at DLS.
The key design concerns are modularity, separation of logic and I/O,
easy to implement hardware triggered scanning solutions and a clear migration path.
Currently there are many new developments for RTEMS and VMEbus CPUs as a basis for EPICS 7.
These are briefly presented here.
The main focus is the support of PowerPC boards like beatnik (MVME6100), MVME3700, MVME5100 etc..
Also new board alternatives on QorIQ basis (MVME2500) are addressed.
The stored beam was achieved in the Storage Ring at NSLS-II (National Synchrotron Light Source II) in March 2014. Even since then, the beam diagnostics and control system has been providing valuable fill pattern measurement data for machine operation. The control hardware as well as software has evolved over the past decade.
RegMap is a tool used at Spallation Neutron Source to assist PLC developers with creating and testing EPICS integration with ease. PLC tags are described as a single line in Excel or CSV spreadsheet with user friendly fields. The RegMap tool converts saved spreadsheet into an EPICS database file and an OPI screen file, and allows for quick development cycle of register based devices without...
There are many VME modules in difference system in difference facilities. These VME module become obsolete due to the VME hardware obsolescence (such as front-end computer) and lack of support of operating systems (such as RTEMS) running on the VME systems. In this talk, we will discuss the migration path of the VME board to Ethernet on FPGA for control. The upgraded module can have the same...
An update on the recent developments from the EPICS Tools and Services collaborations. This includes the latest releases of Phoebus and improvements to middle layer services like Olog, Save Restore, ChannelFinder, etc.
The PiMega detector family deployed at Sirius uses CERN’s Medipix3RX ASIC, delivering nearly 210 Gbps worth of raw payload in the largest detectors. In new generations based on Timepix4, the worst case bandwidth considered can reach up to 1.8 Tbps.
Current software architecture has a strong decoupling between data acquisition software stack and the EPICS IOC, relegating to EPICS the role...
Presenting a thread model and possibilities for applying Transport Layer Security (TLS) to the PVA protocol.
Cybersecurity is a rising concern in real-time and industrial control systems due to increased security threats toward these systems. In this talk, we discuss our ongoing efforts in security testing through modularization and fuzzing of the software stacks to detect vulnerabilities in different components. We have previously worked on modularizing the network stack of RTEMS into linkable...
High Level Application service options for the Electron Ion Collider Project are currently under evaluation, both from the existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider proprietary Controls System and from the EPICS ecosystem. We will describe some early observations, concerns, and opportunities from amongst the more urgently required areas, including Logging, Name Lookups, Alarm notifications,...
A brief overview of EPICS IOC implementation on SoC FPGA based new LLRF controllers. This presentation will include details of work completed so far, advantages, challenges and future work.
Wir stellen ein System vor welches es möglich macht EPICS auch in kleinen Laboren (Chemie, Physik) zu etablieren.
The Component Database (CDB) (developed for the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade) and a tightly coupled version of the eTraveler (originally developed at FRIB) have been in use for over 5 years to support the design, fabrication, and installation of thousands of components. This talk will provide a brief introduction to the applications and then describe the numerous ways the captured data has...
Image recognition and other tasks with visual components typically performed by humans remain integral to the establishment and maintenance of sample environments, including sample alignment, in neutron scattering and similar experiments. During this presentation, I will discuss the development of a user-friendly, EPICS-based interface designed for use by beamline operators which provides...
We developed a native CA and PVA library in JavaScript’s local runtime environment, Node.js. By using the asynchronous features of this programming language, this library can efficiently process a large amount of CA connections.
Closing remarks for the meeting. Announcement of next collaboration meeting.
Slides presented in the Cybersecurity workshop during the EPICS 2023 Collaboration Meeting at Fermilab.
The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) is a third generation light source has been operating for almost 10 years. The Diagnostics group is responsible for providing numerous systems for monitoring key aspects of the accelerator complex with the Beam Position Monitor Electronics (BPM) being its largest system. The in-house designed BPM electronics includes two boards: An analog...