ICALEPCS2013 - List of Authors (Fernandez-Carreiras, D.)

Paper

Title

Page

Using Prince2 and ITIL Practices for Computing Projects and Service Management in a Scientific Installation

517

D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, G. Cuní, J. Klora, M. Martin, O. Matilla, A. Nardella, V. Prat, A. Pérez Font, D. Salvat
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

The conscientious project management during the installation is a key factor keeping the schedule and costs in specifications. Methodologies like Prince2 for project management or ITIL best practices for service management, supported by tools like Request Tracker, Redmine or Track, improve the communication between scientists and support groups, speed up the time to respond, and increase the satisfaction and quality perceived by the user. In the same way, during operation, some practices complemented with software tools, may increase substantially the quality of the service with the resources available. This paper describes the use of these processes and methodologies in a scientific installation such as the synchrotron Alba. It also evaluates the strengths and the risks associated to the implementation as well as the achievements and the failures, proposing some improvements.

Slides TUMIB01 [1.043 MB]

Poster TUMIB01 [7.037 MB]

TUPPC060

Implementation of Continuous Scans Used in Beamline Experiments at Alba Synchrotron

710

Z. Reszela, F. Becheri, G. Cuní, D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, J. Moldes, C. Pascual-Izarra
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
T.M. Coutinho
ESRF, Grenoble, France

The Alba control system * is based on Sardana **, a software package implemented in Python, built on top of Tango *** and oriented to beamline and accelerator control and data acquisition. Sardana provides an advanced scan framework, which is commonly used in all the beamlines of Alba as well as other institutes. This framework provides standard macros and comprises various scanning modes: step, hybrid and software-continuous, however no hardware-continuous. The continuous scans speed up the data acquisition, making it a great asset for most experiments and due to time constraints, mandatory for a few of them. A continuous scan has been developed and installed in three beamlines where it reduced the time overheads of the step scans. Furthermore it could be easily adapted to any other experiment and will be used as a base for extending Sardana scan framework with the generic continuous scan capabilities. This article describes requirements, plan and implementation of the project as well as its results and possible improvements.
*"The design of the Alba Control System. […]" D. Fernández et al, ICALEPCS2011
**"Sardana, The Software for Building SCADAS […]" T.M. Coutinho et al, ICALEPCS2011
***www.tango-controls.org

Poster TUPPC060 [13.352 MB]

TUPPC061

BL13-XALOC, MX experiments at Alba: Current Status and Ongoing Improvements

714

G. Cuní, J. Benach, D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, J. Juanhuix, C. Pascual-Izarra, Z. Reszela
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
T.M. Coutinho
ESRF, Grenoble, France

BL13-XALOC is the only Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) beamline at the 3-GeV ALBA synchrotron. The control system is based on Tango * and Sardana **, which provides a powerful python-based environment for building and executing user-defined macros, a comprehensive access to the hardware, a standard Command Line Interface based on ipython, and a generic and customizable Graphical User Interface based on Taurus ***. Currently, the MX experiments are performed through panels that provide control to different beamline instrumentation. Users are able to collect diffraction data and solve crystal structures, and now it is time to improve the control system by combining the feedback from the users with the development of the second stage features: group all the interfaces (i.e. sample viewing system, automatic sample changer, fluorescence scans, and data collections) in a high-level application and implement new functionalities in order to provide a higher throughput experiment, with data collection strategies, automated data collections, and workflows. This article describes the current architecture of the XALOC control system, and the plan to implement the future improvements.
* http://www.tango-controls.org/
** http://www.sardana-controls.org/
*** http://www.tango-controls.org/static/taurus/

Poster TUPPC061 [2.936 MB]

TUCOCB10

TANGO V8 - Another Turbo Charged Major Release

978

A. Götz, J.M. Chaize, T.M. Coutinho, J.M. Meyer, F. Poncet, E.T. Taurel, P.V. Verdier
ESRF, Grenoble, France
G. Abeillé, A. Buteau, N. Leclercq, F.E. Picca
SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
S. Cleva, M. Lonza, L. Pivetta, C. Scafuri
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy
D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, S. Rubio-Manrique
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
I.A. Khokhriakov
HZG, Geesthacht, Germany
S. Perez
CEA, Arpajon, France
D.P. Spruce
MAX-lab, Lund, Sweden

The TANGO (http://tango-controls/org) collaboration continues to evolve and improve the TANGO kernel. A latest release has made major improvements to the protocol and, the language support in Java. The replacement of the CORBA Notificaton service with ZMQ for sending events has allowed a much higher performance, a simplification of the architecture and support for multicasting to be achieved. A rewrite of the Java device server binding using the latest features of the Java language has made the code much more compact and modern. Guidelines for writing device servers have been produced so they can be more easily shared. The test suite for testing the TANGO kernel has been re-written and the code coverage drastically improved. TANGO has been ported to new embedded platforms running Linux and mobile platforms running Android and iOS. Packaging for Debian and bindings to commercial tools have been updated and a new one (Panorama) added. The graphical layers have been extended. The latest figures on TANGO performance will be presented. Finally the paper will present the roadmap for the next major release.

Slides TUCOCB10 [1.469 MB]

WECOAAB03

Synchronization of Motion and Detectors and Continuous Scans as the Standard Data Acquisition Technique

992

D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, F. Becheri, G. Cuní, R. Homs-Puron, G. Jover-Mañas, J. Klora, O. Matilla, J. Moldes, C. Pascual-Izarra, Z. Reszela, D. Roldan, S. Rubio-Manrique, X. Serra-Gallifa
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
T.M. Coutinho
ESRF, Grenoble, France

This paper describes the model, objectives and implementation of a generic data acquisition structure for an experimental station, which integrates the hardware and software synchronization of motors, detectors, shutters and in general any experimental channel or events related with the experiment. The implementation involves the management of hardware triggers, which can be derived from time, position of encoders or even events from the particle accelerator, combined with timestamps for guaranteeing the correct integration of software triggered or slow channels. The infrastructure requires a complex management of buffers of different sources, centralized and distributed, including interpolation procedures. ALBA uses Sardana built on TANGO as the generic control system, which provides the abstraction and communication with the hardware, and a complete macro edition and execution environment.

Slides WECOAAB03 [2.432 MB]

THPPC115

Fast Orbit Feedback Implementation at Alba Synchrotron

1328

X. Serra-Gallifa, S. Blanch-Torné, D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, A. Gutierrez-Milla, Z. Martí, O. Matilla, J. Moldes, A. Olmos, R. Petrocelli
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

After the successful accelerator commissioning and with the facility already in operation one of the top short term objectives pointed out by accelerator division was the Fast Orbit Feedback implementation (FOFB). The target of the FOFB system is to hold the electron beam position at submicron range both in vertical and horizontal planes correcting the inestabilities up to 120Hz. This increased beam stability performance is considered a major asset for the beamlines user operation. To achieve this target, the orbit position is acquired from the 88 Libera BPMs at a 10KHz sampling rate, distributed through an independent network and the corrections are calculated and sent to the 176 power supplies that drive the corrector coils. All this correction loop is executed at 10 KHz and the total latency of the system is characterized and minimized optimizing the bandwidth response.

Poster THPPC115 [0.732 MB]

FROAB03

ICALEPCS 2017

D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras
CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

Update on the ICALEPCS 2017 venue that has now been selected.

Slides FROAB03 [1.482 MB]

Paper	Title	Page
TUMIB01	Using Prince2 and ITIL Practices for Computing Projects and Service Management in a Scientific Installation	517
	D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, G. Cuní, J. Klora, M. Martin, O. Matilla, A. Nardella, V. Prat, A. Pérez Font, D. Salvat CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
	The conscientious project management during the installation is a key factor keeping the schedule and costs in specifications. Methodologies like Prince2 for project management or ITIL best practices for service management, supported by tools like Request Tracker, Redmine or Track, improve the communication between scientists and support groups, speed up the time to respond, and increase the satisfaction and quality perceived by the user. In the same way, during operation, some practices complemented with software tools, may increase substantially the quality of the service with the resources available. This paper describes the use of these processes and methodologies in a scientific installation such as the synchrotron Alba. It also evaluates the strengths and the risks associated to the implementation as well as the achievements and the failures, proposing some improvements.
	Slides TUMIB01 [1.043 MB]
	Poster TUMIB01 [7.037 MB]

TUPPC060	Implementation of Continuous Scans Used in Beamline Experiments at Alba Synchrotron	710
	Z. Reszela, F. Becheri, G. Cuní, D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, J. Moldes, C. Pascual-Izarra CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain T.M. Coutinho ESRF, Grenoble, France
	The Alba control system * is based on Sardana , a software package implemented in Python, built on top of Tango * and oriented to beamline and accelerator control and data acquisition. Sardana provides an advanced scan framework, which is commonly used in all the beamlines of Alba as well as other institutes. This framework provides standard macros and comprises various scanning modes: step, hybrid and software-continuous, however no hardware-continuous. The continuous scans speed up the data acquisition, making it a great asset for most experiments and due to time constraints, mandatory for a few of them. A continuous scan has been developed and installed in three beamlines where it reduced the time overheads of the step scans. Furthermore it could be easily adapted to any other experiment and will be used as a base for extending Sardana scan framework with the generic continuous scan capabilities. This article describes requirements, plan and implementation of the project as well as its results and possible improvements. "The design of the Alba Control System. […]" D. Fernández et al, ICALEPCS2011 "Sardana, The Software for Building SCADAS […]" T.M. Coutinho et al, ICALEPCS2011 **www.tango-controls.org
	Poster TUPPC060 [13.352 MB]

TUPPC061	BL13-XALOC, MX experiments at Alba: Current Status and Ongoing Improvements	714
	G. Cuní, J. Benach, D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, J. Juanhuix, C. Pascual-Izarra, Z. Reszela CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain T.M. Coutinho ESRF, Grenoble, France
	BL13-XALOC is the only Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) beamline at the 3-GeV ALBA synchrotron. The control system is based on Tango * and Sardana , which provides a powerful python-based environment for building and executing user-defined macros, a comprehensive access to the hardware, a standard Command Line Interface based on ipython, and a generic and customizable Graphical User Interface based on Taurus . Currently, the MX experiments are performed through panels that provide control to different beamline instrumentation. Users are able to collect diffraction data and solve crystal structures, and now it is time to improve the control system by combining the feedback from the users with the development of the second stage features: group all the interfaces (i.e. sample viewing system, automatic sample changer, fluorescence scans, and data collections) in a high-level application and implement new functionalities in order to provide a higher throughput experiment, with data collection strategies, automated data collections, and workflows. This article describes the current architecture of the XALOC control system, and the plan to implement the future improvements. http://www.tango-controls.org/ http://www.sardana-controls.org/ * http://www.tango-controls.org/static/taurus/
	Poster TUPPC061 [2.936 MB]

TUCOCB10	TANGO V8 - Another Turbo Charged Major Release	978
	A. Götz, J.M. Chaize, T.M. Coutinho, J.M. Meyer, F. Poncet, E.T. Taurel, P.V. Verdier ESRF, Grenoble, France G. Abeillé, A. Buteau, N. Leclercq, F.E. Picca SOLEIL, Gif-sur-Yvette, France S. Cleva, M. Lonza, L. Pivetta, C. Scafuri Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, S. Rubio-Manrique CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain I.A. Khokhriakov HZG, Geesthacht, Germany S. Perez CEA, Arpajon, France D.P. Spruce MAX-lab, Lund, Sweden
	The TANGO (http://tango-controls/org) collaboration continues to evolve and improve the TANGO kernel. A latest release has made major improvements to the protocol and, the language support in Java. The replacement of the CORBA Notificaton service with ZMQ for sending events has allowed a much higher performance, a simplification of the architecture and support for multicasting to be achieved. A rewrite of the Java device server binding using the latest features of the Java language has made the code much more compact and modern. Guidelines for writing device servers have been produced so they can be more easily shared. The test suite for testing the TANGO kernel has been re-written and the code coverage drastically improved. TANGO has been ported to new embedded platforms running Linux and mobile platforms running Android and iOS. Packaging for Debian and bindings to commercial tools have been updated and a new one (Panorama) added. The graphical layers have been extended. The latest figures on TANGO performance will be presented. Finally the paper will present the roadmap for the next major release.
	Slides TUCOCB10 [1.469 MB]

WECOAAB03	Synchronization of Motion and Detectors and Continuous Scans as the Standard Data Acquisition Technique	992
	D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, F. Becheri, G. Cuní, R. Homs-Puron, G. Jover-Mañas, J. Klora, O. Matilla, J. Moldes, C. Pascual-Izarra, Z. Reszela, D. Roldan, S. Rubio-Manrique, X. Serra-Gallifa CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain T.M. Coutinho ESRF, Grenoble, France
	This paper describes the model, objectives and implementation of a generic data acquisition structure for an experimental station, which integrates the hardware and software synchronization of motors, detectors, shutters and in general any experimental channel or events related with the experiment. The implementation involves the management of hardware triggers, which can be derived from time, position of encoders or even events from the particle accelerator, combined with timestamps for guaranteeing the correct integration of software triggered or slow channels. The infrastructure requires a complex management of buffers of different sources, centralized and distributed, including interpolation procedures. ALBA uses Sardana built on TANGO as the generic control system, which provides the abstraction and communication with the hardware, and a complete macro edition and execution environment.
	Slides WECOAAB03 [2.432 MB]

THPPC115	Fast Orbit Feedback Implementation at Alba Synchrotron	1328
	X. Serra-Gallifa, S. Blanch-Torné, D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras, A. Gutierrez-Milla, Z. Martí, O. Matilla, J. Moldes, A. Olmos, R. Petrocelli CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
	After the successful accelerator commissioning and with the facility already in operation one of the top short term objectives pointed out by accelerator division was the Fast Orbit Feedback implementation (FOFB). The target of the FOFB system is to hold the electron beam position at submicron range both in vertical and horizontal planes correcting the inestabilities up to 120Hz. This increased beam stability performance is considered a major asset for the beamlines user operation. To achieve this target, the orbit position is acquired from the 88 Libera BPMs at a 10KHz sampling rate, distributed through an independent network and the corrections are calculated and sent to the 176 power supplies that drive the corrector coils. All this correction loop is executed at 10 KHz and the total latency of the system is characterized and minimized optimizing the bandwidth response.
	Poster THPPC115 [0.732 MB]

FROAB03	ICALEPCS 2017
	D.F.C. Fernández-Carreiras CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
	Update on the ICALEPCS 2017 venue that has now been selected.
	Slides FROAB03 [1.482 MB]