Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA Peter Zumbruch Experiment control systems group GSI (KS/EE)

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 2 Overview What is EPICS? What is MonALISA Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA Summary

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 3 For EPICS, client and server speak of their Channel Access role i.e. Channel Access Client & Channel Access Server Client Server CA A Control System Architecture Network-based “client/server” model (hence the EPICS logo) What is EPICS? (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) Network

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 4 What is EPICS? …short answer: EPICS: Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System …a bit more elaborate: EPICS is a set of Open Source software tools, libraries and applications developed collaboratively and used worldwide to create distributed soft real-time control systems for scientific instruments such as particle accelerators, telescopes and other large scientific experiments. (From the EPICS Home Page: Home Page …striking - is three things at once: A collaboration of major scientific laboratories and industry ( > 100) A world wide collaboration that shares designs, software tools and expertise for implementing large-scale control systems An architecture for building scalable control systems A client/server model with an efficient communication protocol (Channel Access) for passing data The entire set of Process Variables establish a Distributed Real-time Database of machine status, information and control parameters A Software Toolkit of Open Source code and documentation A collection of software tools collaboratively developed which can be integrated to provide a comprehensive and scalable control system

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 5 Ten really neat things about EPICS (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) It’s free It’s Open Source There are lots of users All a client needs to know to access data is a PV name You can pick the best tools out there … … or build your own The boring stuff is already done There is a lot of expertise available close by A good contribution becomes internationally known By following a few simple rules, you get a lot for free

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 6 EPICS and FAIR/ GSI Experiments showing interest or more in usage of EPICS NuSTAR CBM (Embedded controls) FRS (HV controls HADES – running complete experiment control system PANDA

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 7 MonALISA Is a distributed service able to: collect any type of information from different systems analyze this information in real time take automated decisions and perform actions based on it optimize work flows in complex environments Read more at from: Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007 “MONitoring Agents using a Large Integrated Services Architecture“

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 8 Uses  Monitoring distributed computing, i.e. GRIDs  Optimizing flow in complex system (VRVS, optics cable networks)  ALICE also uses ML for monitoring online reconstruction  Some benchmark figures for the service:  ~ 800k monitored parameters at 50k updates/second  > 10k running (alien) jobs monitored simultaneously  > 100 WAN links from: Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 9 Advantages MonALISA is simple to install, configure and use ApMon APIs are available in C, C++, Java, Python and Perl ROOT plugin allows macros to send data directly to MonaLISA Can easily interface with (or sit on top of) any existing or future slow controls subsystem (epics, pvss) Data is stored in a standard PgSQL (or MySQL) database that can be accessed by other applications, independently of ML Automatic data summarizing Several data repositories (and hence DBs) can exist (local and remote) Easy access via WebService (WS) from service and/or repository Fully supported by development team; work is being done in this direction from: Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 10 Capabilities Based on monitored information, actions can be taken in:  ML Service  ML Repository Actions can be triggered by:  Values above/below given thresholds  Absence/presence of values  Correlations between several values Possible actions types:  External command  Plain event logging  Annotation of repository charts; RSS feeds   Instant messaging from: Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007Online Monitoring with MonALISA – D.Protopopescu – Dubna 2007

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 11 Interfacing First approach: –Perl Script Using ApMon module of MonALISA Calling caget / camonitor / caput commands of EPICS Later, with help of POE module (process on event) change on event could be implemented

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 12 lxi003: MLD start lxdv18: EPICS IOC Setup Service Proxies Repository CERN GSI GLASGOW GSI Channel Access event_pub.pl using caget/camonitor/caput ApMon

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 13 Screen shots (1)

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 14 Screen shots (2)

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 15 In future … Next approach: –Implement MonALISA‘s API.c/c++ Create EPICS Device Support Module for MonALISA Maybe simpler “sub routine record“ approach

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 16 Summary Thanks to –Dan –Costin –Catalin –Kevin at the 1st DCS Roundtable in Glasgow EPICS Process Variables can be read and manipulated by MonALISA The reverse mechanism is not foreseen Performance test not yet done.

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 17 Thank you for your attention. For more information … Have a look at the extra slides.

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 18 Extra slides

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 19 Vocabulary (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) EPICS –Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System Channel Access –The communication protocol used by EPICS Process Variable –A piece of named data referred to by its PV name –The primary object of the Channel Access Protocol Channel –A synonym for Process Variable Channel Access Server –Software that provides access to a Process Variable using the Channel Access Protocol Channel Access Client –Software that requests access to a Process Variable using the Channel Access Protocol

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 20 Vocabulary (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) IOC – Input Output Controller –A computer running iocCore, a set of EPICS routines used to define process variables and implement real-time control algorithms – iocCore uses database records to define process variables and their behavior Soft IOC –An instance of iocCore running as a process on a “non-dedicated” computer (i.e. a computer that is performing other functions as well) Record –The mechanism by which a Process Variable is defined in an IOC (using iocCore ) –Dozens of record types exist, each with it’s own attributes and processing routine that describe its functionality

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 21 What is EPICS? Process Variable –A Process Variable is a named piece of data with a set of attributes –Examples of Attributes: Alarm Severity (e.g. NO_ALARM, MINOR, MAJOR, INVALID) Alarm Status (e.g. LOW, HI, LOLO, HIHI, READ_error) Timestamp Number of elements (array) Normal Operating Range Control Limits Engineering Unit Designation (e.g. degrees, mm, MW)

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 22 How does it do it? (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) Power Supply Beam Position Monitor Vacuum Gauge Computer Interface Process Variables: Channel Access Server S1A:H1:CurrentAO S1:P1:x S1:P1:y S1:G1:vacuum Channel Access Client

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 23 Where does it do it? (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) Power Supply Beam Position Monitor Vacuum Gauge Computer Interface Process Variables: Channel Access Server S1A:H1:CurrentAO S1:P1:x S1:P1:y S1:G1:vacuum iocCore Channel Access Client Remote Control & Monitoring Access SecurityAlarm Detection Data Trending/Archiving Automatic Sequencing Alarm Logging/Reporting Data Conversion/Filtering Closed-loop Control Operational Constraints Data Trending/Archiving Modeling/ Simulation/Analysis Automatic Sequencing Configuration Control

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 24 Channel Access in One Slide (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) CA Server CA Client Process Variables: Channel Access Server S1A:H1:CurrentAO S1:P1:x S1:P1:y S1:G1:vacuum Channel Access Client Who has a PV named “S1A:H1:CurrentAO”? I do. What is its value? 25.5 AMPS Change its value to 30.5 “connection request” or “search request” OK, it is now is too high. It is now set to the maximum value of You are not authorized to change this value Notify me when the value changes It is now 20.5 AMPS It is now 10.5 AMPS It is now AMPS “put” or “caPut” “get” or “caGet” “set a monitor” “post an event” or “post a monitor” “put complete” or

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 25 What is EPICS? (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) Channel Access clients are programs that require access to Process Variables to carry out their purpose The “service” that a Channel Access server provides is access to a Process Variable* StripToolMEDM Process Variables Process Variables CAS CAC * A Process Variable (PV) is a named piece of data.

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 26 What is EPICS? (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) Any tool/program/application that abides by the Channel Access protocol could be described as “EPICS Compliant”. My Accelerator Simulator Code (PVs) CAS My Special Data Collection Program CAC EPICS can be viewed as a “toolkit” of EPICS compliant programs. One can select the appropriate tool for their need or develop their own. StripToolMEDM CAC iocCore (PVs) LabView (PVs) CASCACCASCAC

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 27 Displays and Controls (1-3) Examples from HADES

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 28 RTEMS Typical Realizations of an EPICS System (Getting Started with EPICS: Introductory Session I) IOC CAS With Release 3.14, the operating system limitations for iocCore have been removed. Commercial Instruments Custom Chassis/Panels Technical Equipment

March 3, 2008Interfacing EPICS and MonALISA - Peter Zumbruch, GSI 29 So What Does it Do? EPICS tools are available to accomplish almost any typical Distributed Control System (DCS) functionality, such as: –Remote Control & Monitoring of Technical Equipment –Data Conversion/Filtering –Access Security –Equipment Operation Constraints –Alarm Detection/Reporting/Logging –Data Trending/Archiving/Retrieval/Plotting –Automatic Sequencing –Mode & Facility Configuration Control (save/restore) –Modeling/Simulation –Data Acquisition –Data Analysis