Australian SynchrotronAustralian Synchrotron

Richard FarnsworthRichard FarnsworthWith Steven Banks and Mark Clift With Steven Banks and Mark Clift

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The Australian Synchrotron ProjectNaming:

•ASP for the project.•Boomerang for the ring, or worse – Boomering•AusSy favoured by the IMACThe only official name is •“The Australian Synchrotron.”Politics:•Not part of a lab. No operating authority yet.•Funding to build is established •First beam mid 2007•Funding for initial suite of 12 Beamlines

Australian Synchrotron Australian Synchrotron

ControlsControlsArtists ImpressionArtists Impression

ControlsControlsAustralian Synchrotron being builtAustralian Synchrotron being built

ControlsControlsJust before we started buildingJust before we started building

ControlsControlsDrive in - Circa 1970’sDrive in - Circa 1970’s

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Technical illustration of the layout of the facility

Roof span 116m

Footprint of 10,600 m2

400+ km cabling

400+ magnets

4000 m3 concrete

Equivalent of 3 storeys

Temperature controlled to +/- 1º C

The Australian Synchrotron The Australian Synchrotron

ControlsControlsChoosing EPICSChoosing EPICS

• Selected EPICS last year. • Unknown to us - third Australian user –

previously used on a 10 MeV tandem accelerator and on a telescope (Part of Gemini - destroyed by bushfire Jan 2003 – being rebuilt)

• The most comparable Australian Facility is the Neutron source in Sydney, which uses SICS from PSI

ControlsControlshttp://www.synchrotron.vic.gov.auhttp://www.synchrotron.vic.gov.au

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• Richard Farnsworth, Steven Banks, Mark Clift• All are Melbourne locals, Engineers and

Physicists with an IT background, combined engineering experience with large control systems including Water, Sewerage, railways, Electrical Power systems, Large scale radar, Computer Hardware, Radiation dose accelerators, Computer Maintenance engineering, Animatronics, Cyclotron, Hydrographics surveys.

• No prior EPICS or Synchrotron experience

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The weak anthropomorphic principle argues that the universe appears to be well designed for the existence of life forms such as ourselves because, if it was not then we wouldn’t be here to observe how poorly it was designed for our existence.

As applied to EPICS: If it is very difficult to do in EPICS, it probably isn’t needed to operate a synchrotron ! This is a great comfort at times !

WAP and EPICSWAP and EPICS

ControlsControlsEPICS ToolboxEPICS Toolbox

• Too much to choose from – spanning a huge variety of times, technologies and choices.

So, we decided to:• Using EDM and Matlab (MCA) for complex GUIs• Using Linux where possible• IOC choice not settled – Like the idea of RT linux

a lot (More later), not keen on VxWorks.• Not put much in the IOC• Possibly will put in a middle layer

ControlsControlsEpics and the development systemEpics and the development system

Choice of operating systems•We chose Linux for Servers : compatible, common, cheap, reliable, open. EPICS seems well supported.•And Windows (XP for the moment). Common, “comfortable”, can run other standard office type things. Cheap and cheerful.•Can use X terminal packages for Unix displays.

•All hardware uses standard PC commodity

ControlsControlsIssues with EPICS Issues with EPICS

•Build system was bit painful•More and better “how-to’s” would be nice•Full examples would be good •Sample IOCs with real functionalityi.e. A real database, or design patterns•Will try to avoid VME hardware and VxWorks (and wind river)•There is lots of stuff out there – but it’s not all on a single website (e.g the EPICS home page).

ControlsControlsGood things about EPICSGood things about EPICS

•The price (but free Software .ne. free Beer)•The wide support for Operating systems (let us choose what suits us at the time)•The community (VERY important). Huge support •Getting things working•Designed for our type of facility•Observatory Sciences gave us a course •Gateways can give a bit of security•Channel access solid

ControlsControlsMCA - Matlab Channel accessMCA - Matlab Channel access

Work on MCA

•Removed 1000 Channel Limit •Matlab “Monitor Callbacks” now fully supported

•Is Favoured by our Accelerator Physicists•Will use for complex displays and some processing•Slots into Accelerator Toolbox - Important for us to simulate as we have no machine.• See Steven Banks offline for more detail

ControlsControls•Development and Support SystemDevelopment and Support SystemSimulate everything at the start and then replace.Separate development and productionSystems engineering, Config management