EPICS at APS Beamlines Tim Mooney Advanced Photon Source Argonne National Laboratory

EPICS applications for synchrotron beamlines (synApps) Standard EPICS base & extensions Standard EPICS modules (e.g., MPF) synApps modules (std, motor, MCA) synApps-compatible clients (e.g., scan-data display) synApps overview

synApps Custom EPICS records Custom EPICS device-support modules Other custom infrastructure (e.g., autosave, recDynLink, saveData) Custom EPICS databases, MEDM displays Custom clients (e.g., scanSee) Matched to a version of EPICS base synApps overview

Just to clarify… We didn’t write everything in synApps One function of synApps is to bundle compatible versions of selected EPICS software – wherever developed – into a single tar file that can easily be built and configured to run ~80% of a beamline Second function is to provide generic tools that have proven themselves useful in the development of custom support synApps overview

Basic record/device support Motor Scaler Multichannel analyzer Multichannel scaler Serial (RS-232) GPIB ADC’s DAC’s Encoders Optical table String calc, sequence Complex expressions Enhanced PID Scan Scan parameter Generic VME synApps overview

Layered devices, techniques (databases, SNL programs, …) Optical tables Slits Mirrors Monochromators Piezo controller Digital Multimeter Current preamplifier Interpolation N-step measurement Serial I/O block GPIB I/O block Autocollimator Temperature controller X-ray microscope Insertion device Filter/shutter synApps overview

Other support Autosave (save parameters through reboot) saveData (store scan data to disk) Clients to display scan/MCA data Programs to handle MDA, NeXus data files recDynLink (adds notify-when-done link) –used by sscan, swait records synApps overview

Motors Stepper, servo Oregon Microsystems Newport Intelligent Motion Systems McClennan Soft support synApps overview

Scalers Multiple preset scalers Background count interrupted by data- acquisition count User-programmable end calculations Joerger, Struck hardware synApps overview

Multichannel analyzer Canberra AIM XIA DXP 32 regions of interest Halt acquisition on ROI preset Background subtraction for ROI sums Also supports sampling ADC (Acromag IP-330) synApps overview

Serial O/I Block Combination of –string calc to construct output message –serial record to send and/or receive –string calc to parse reply Intended for run-time programming Similar GPIB support synApps overview

Optical table 5/6-motor optical table User specifies point about which table rotates Exact virtual-to-motor and motor-to-virtual Specific geometries (adding a new geometry is hard) synApps overview

Monochromators Nondispersive (standard) Dispersive (high resolution) –Nested, in-line Spherical grating (low energy) synApps overview

Miscellaneous Slit Sample Wheel 4-step measurement synApps overview

String Expressions Extends CALC record to combine string and numeric expressions Useful for run-time programming of serial devices EPICS links are programmable at run time synApps overview

Scans Multidimensional 4 positioners, 4 detector triggers, 70 signals saveData client writes to NFS disk Can acquire arrays (e.g., MCA spectra) ~300 Hz on MV162 Start/end, table, on-the-fly Also for 1-dimensional automated alignment synApps overview

Clients MCA display (IDL program) scanSee (IDL program for 1D, 2D, 3D data) Plot.py (Python demonstration) PVMail (send when PV value violates boundary) Misc. experiment- specific user interfaces in tcl/tk, python/tk, Igor, IDL, java Channel Archiver BackUp/Restore Tool StripTool (strip chart) … synApps overview

Autosave/restore Saves PV values (e.g., motor positions, scan config) through reboot Defends against crash during save operation Typically 80 values saved every 5 s, 3000 values every 30 s Include files Macro substitution Dated backups Choose save/restore directories Request-file path –Can put request files in same directory as database files synApps overview

CCD support CA server on CCD’s native platform Calls vendor-supplied software Stores images to local disk (HDF format) Some simple image analysis Hosts EPICS PV’s for control

String calculations Operators >? and <? (max, min) –Example: A<?B Variable # of args for MAX, MIN functions –Example: MAX(A,B,C,MIN(D,E)) Much faster that previous versions –Numeric op’s are 1-4  s (~10%) slower than calcPerform (on MV162) –(compare to ~4  s added for isnan/isinf check) No memory fragmentation Recent progress

Save_restore request-file path Can put standard request files with databases –Database developer writes default request file –Easy version control Can override a standard request file with a local copy (at any include level) Recent progress

Conversion to 3.14 In progress, collaborators: –Mark Rivers (CARS-CAT) –Jens Eden (BESSY) –Kate Feng (NSLS) –Till Straumann (SLAC) Most of synApps compiles at least, some has been tested, some is even OSI Recent progress

Python tools We use caPython –Geoff Savage (FNAL) mcaDisplay.py mcaPeakFit.py –Mark Rivers (CARS) plot.py Recent progress

For more information: cars.uchicago.edu/gsecars/index.html