ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
The neutron imaging prototype beamline (CG-1D) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) is used for many different applications necessitating a flexible and stable instrument control system. Beamline scientists expect a robust data acquisition system. They need a clear and concise user interface that allows them to both configure an experiment and to monitor an ongoing experiment run. Idle time between acquiring consecutive images must be minimized. To achieve these goals, we implement a system based upon EPICS, a newly developed CSS scan system, and CSS BOY. This paper presents the system architecture and possible future plans.
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
With the evolution of web based technologies, especially HTML5[1], it becomes possible to create web-based control system user interfaces (UI) that are cross-browser and cross-device compatible. This article describes two technologies that facilitate this goal. The first one is the WebOPI [2], which can seamlessly display CSS BOY[3] Operator Interfaces (OPI) in web browsers without modification to the original OPI file. The WebOPI leverages the powerful graphical editing capabilities of BOY, it provides the convenience of re-using existing OPI files. On the other hand, it uses auto-generated JavaScript and a generic communication mechanism between the web browser and web server. It is not optimized for a control system, which results in unnecessary network traffic and resource usage. Our second technology is the WebSocket-based Process Data Access (WebPDA). It is a protocol that provides efficient control system data communication using WebSockets[4], so that users can create web-based control system UIs using standard web page technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The protocol is control system independent, so it potentially can support any type of control system.
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
[2]https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/cs-studio/wiki/webopi
[3]https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/cs-studio/wiki/BOY
[4]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket
ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
NSCL, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Automation of beam line experiments requires more flexibility than the control of an accelerator. The sample environment devices to control as well as requirements for their operation can change daily. Tools that allow stable automation of an accelerator are not practical in such a dynamic environment. On the other hand, falling back to generic scripts opens too much room for error. The Scan System offers an intermediate approach. Scans can be submitted in numerous ways, from pre-configured operator interface panels, graphical scan editors, scripts, the command line, or a web interface. At the same time, each scan is assembled from a well-defined set of scan commands, each one with robust features like error checking, time-out handling and read-back verification. Integrated into Control System Studio (CSS), scans can be monitored, paused, modified or aborted as needed. We present details of the implementation and first usage experience.