Projects & Activities

EPICS installations

Installations of EPICS at GSI – step-by-step

This section 'EPICS Installation at GSI' explains step-by-step with code snippets the installation of all parts used at GSI.
• GSI Prerequisites
• EPICS base
• Preparations in view of docker
• Modules
• Other Tools or Libraries
• Extensions
• Packages / Distributions
• Eclipse
• CSS - control system suite
Status: ongoing / permanent project
-- PeterZumbruch - 2020-08-24
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Installation of EPICS at MBS Daq Platforms

• installations of EPICS at all supported architectures (linux-ppc, linux-x86(_64)) and optionally not yet supported operating system LynxOS
• provide access methods (drivers, protocols, ... ) to the control functions of the MBS systems.

Status: ongoing / permanent project
-- JoernAdamczewski - 2016-02-11
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Hardware Platforms

• Architecture: ETRAX's CRIS by AXIS
• Plugcomputer: DreamPlug / GuruPlug / SheevaPlug
• HadCon / HadShoPoMo / HadControl - Multipurpose Control Board
• HadCon 2 - Multipurpose Control Board
• OWADC1 - 1-wire 8-channel ADC board
• HADES I/O Box
• Attic
  • Virtex4/5, Spartan

Introduction

In contrast to the standard EPICS installations, cross compiler and several other things are needed first.
Generic steps:
• Prerequisites
  • Installation of cross compiler (could be included already in the normal gnu compiler suite)
  • Installation of software development kit (if available)
• then
  • ... either (recommended) using the cross compiler for EPICS build
    • create/modify EPICS target and host specific CONFIG/CONFIG_SITE files
    • built target specific executables, libraries and applications
  • ... or compile on target system specific OS
    • Download of all sources (LINUX kernel and driver)
    • Compilation of the kernel plus tools (busybox for example)
    • transfer to the target hardware
    • Compilation of EPICS inside the development package
• Finally
  • (Transfer to the target hardware)
  • Test the IOC on the target machine.

How-to's by EPICS wiki

Have a look at the How-Tos at the epics wiki, especially at:
• How To Port EPICS to a new OS/Architecture
• How to make your EPICS driver operating system independent
-- PeterZumbruch - 10 Nov 2011

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Architecture: ETRAX's CRIS by AXIS

• EPICS on ETRAX cris architecture
• DIM for Axis' ETRAX
  • Cross compiling and installation
  • Running
The ETRAX 100LX MCM from AXIS (Wikipedia: en/de) is the core of several boards (e.g. HADControl (HadCon), TRB) developed at our department.
To implement EPICS for this architecture two options are offered:
• Cross compiling EPICS for the ETRAX CRIS architecture
  • using the build system of EPICS
    • contained in the in EPICS base since release 3.14.10
• DIM as intermediate protocol with DIM API compiled for ETRAX CRIS
  • using the EPICS-DIM Interface


... more see Cris Architecture Page
Status: completed (host:x86); documentation:50% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2009-11-10
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Plugcomputer: DreamPlug / GuruPlug / SheevaPlug

The so-called plug computer family of GLOBALSCALE technologies is an interesting platform based on ARM5 Marvell core to have a quite powerful front-end PC available. Ways to run EPICS on it are documented.

... more see PlugComputer
Status: starting documentation:1% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2014-06-11
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HadCon / HadShoPoMo / HadControl - Multipurpose Control Board

• Introduction
• Documentation
• Firmware
  • Microcontroller
  • CPLD
edit
HadCon is a general purpose IO module for detector and experiment control as well as for small data acquisition systems.



(HADControl general purpose board) Since its first application has been a power monitor for the Hades Shower Detector it has been formerly introduced and well known as HadShoPoMo (Hades Shower Power Monitor (HADControl/HadShoPoMo general purpose board).

HadCon has an SoC on-board, ETRAX 100LX MCM 4+16 from AXIS (Wikipedia: en/de) - which will be discontinued, see the new HadCon2.
Running a standard Linux the Etrax provides "Connectivity to the world" via TCP/IP.
On the other side it connects via its internal serial interface to an ATMEL AT90CAN128 microcontroller and optionally to an Xilinx CPLD.
Via this junction the ATMEL provides a multitude of possible connections to field buses and general I/O ports.
EPICS base and its applications, modules, and extensions can be cross-compiled to run on Etrax Axis' CRIS architecture (see section Architecture: ETRAX's CRIS by AXIS
• Summarizing:
  • CPU: AXIS ETRAX 100LX MCM 4+16
  • Microcontroller: ATMEL AT90CAN128
    • I²C (internal)
      • 2 × 4-channel 8-Bit DAC - Digital-to-Analog Converter
    • CANbus
      • galvanically isolated CAN - High-speed CAN Transceiver
        • optional external power supply
    • SPI
    • ADCs
    • RS232
    • 32 digital I/Os
  • CPLD: Xilinx XCR3064XL-6CS48C
  • 2 × Rotary Code Switches, hexadecimal coding
  • Ericsson PME 5218TS switching regulator for up to 6A 3.3V power usable for other boards
  • full EPICS support


... more see HadCon
Status:Just a hardware documentation:100% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2018-03-15
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HadCon 2 - Multipurpose Control Board

• Introduction
• Documentation
• Firmware
  • Microcontroller Code
    • HadCon2 Multipurpose Control Api
  • FPGA Code
    • HadCon2 FPGA Projects
• Cables
  • HadCon2 Cables
• Bookkeeping / Organization
  • available HadCon2 Modules
HadCon2 is a credit-card sized general purpose I/O module for detector and experiment controls as well as for small data acquisition systems.

It is the successor of the discontinued first version HadCon ( HADControl/HadShoPoMo general purpose board, HadCon @ Epics Wiki).
The module has an ATMEL AT90CAN128 microcontroller providing a multitude of connectivity:
I²C (8/4 fold (intern/extern) multiplexer), 6 channel 1-wire master, 8-channel 8bit DAC, galvanically isolated CAN - high-speed transceiver, 8-channel 10-bit SAR ADC, byte-oriented SPI, in total up-to 53 programmable I/O lines and optionally a Lattice MachX02 FPGA for fast data processing tasks.
While the discontinued precursor HadCon had an SoC on-board, its successor HadCon2 has broken up this concept in favour of a more open access:
It doesn't have any CPU on board, but a USB connector to directly allow communication with any type and size of computer (e.g. PC, raspberry PI, dreamplug, ...) having an USB port on one side and at the other end the microcontroller and the FGPA. This communication is based on an ASCII-based protocol in view of easy implementation in detector control systems like e.g. EPICS and LabVIEW.
• Summarizing:
  • Microcontroller: ATMEL AT90CAN128
    • I²C
    • CANbus
    • SPI
    • ADCs
    • ...
  • FPGA: Lattice MachX02-1200-HC
  • FTDI USB to serial UART interface
    • USB 2.0 connector
    • Power over USB
  • I²C devices
    • 6 × Single-Channel 1-Wire Master
    • 1 × 8-channel I²C-bus multiplexer with reset
    • 2 × 4-channel 8-Bit DAC - Digital-to-Analog Converter
  • galvanically isolated CAN - High-speed CAN Transceiver
    • optional external power supply
  • 2 × Rotary Code Switches, hexadecimal coding
  • Reset Button for ATMEL
  • 11 × LED's, free programmable


... more see HadCon2
Status:Just a hardware documentation:100% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2020-07-31
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OWADC1 - 1-wire 8-channel ADC board

• Introduction
• Documentation
  • Layout
  • 1-wire ADC
    • RC time
  • known 1-wire IDs
  • Notes and Remarks
• Future/Extensions/Wish list
• Applications


OWADC1 is a small, compact board designed by M.Traxler and S.Voltz (GSI/EE) to provide an 8 channel, max. 16bit ADC to be accessed by 1-wire protocol


... more see OWADC1 - 1-wire 8-channel ADC board
Status:Just a hardware documentation:25% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2020-07-27
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HADES I/O Box

Based upon the HadCon2 multi I/O board, the DreamPlug Plug Computer, and the 1-wire based ADC board OwAdc a small, slim, multi analog/digital I/O box is built.
Its first use case will be the replacement of old hardware in the HADES experiment at GSI. It provides:
• CPU/OS:
  • ARM based "standard" Linux
• Data access
  • internal USB interface
  • via ASCII-based protocol
  • EPICS compliant
• I/O
  • 16 (differential/single ended) ADC analog input channels 0-5/10 Volts
  • 16 I/O channels
  • 16 DAC channels
  • 6 "separate" 1-wire busses (common GND/Power)
  • CAN bus interface
• adaptable 1U 19" housing
  
... more see HADES I/O Box
Status:Kick off meeting :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-09-12
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Attic

The project activites within this section are considered to be discontinued or only resumed upon request.

Virtex4/5, Spartan

Discontinuation

• Meanwhile there seems to be no longer interest in this project from the side of CBM. Therefore this project is considered to be closed and discontinued.

• At ICALEPCS 2009, Miroslaw Dach, PSI, mailto:miroslaw.dach_at_psi.de, presented running solutions for EPICS application embedded into an Virtex 4 or even Virtex 5.
  During private coversation he stated, that it took him several years to have it running, but now he is confident to present solution for new application and Virtex based platforms within a day.

• Another Solution - Linux 2.6 available on Virtex4 FX 12. Have a look at my FREEDAC Ljubljana Notes on Victor Pucknell, Daresbury

-- PeterZumbruch - 10 Nov 2009

The future FAIR Experiment CBM intends to use Virtex4 based front-end electronics.
... more see Project page

Status: development discontinued

-- PeterZumbruch - 2009-11-10
-- PeterZumbruch - 10 Nov 2009
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-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-09-12

Device Driver/device support modules and Interfaces

• EPICS DIM interface
  • DABC extension to the EPICS DIM interface
• HADCon(trol) / TRB based controls
  • Temperature measurement HADCon(trol)
  • CANbus implementation on HADCon(trol) and control via access
  • Multi-purpose control implementation on HADCon(trol) for HADES
  • Multi-purpose control implementation on HADCon(trol) 2 for HADES
• PLC Industrial Control devices
  • SattCon 200, ABB, HADES cryo control
  • Beckhoff Device Access via EPICS ModBus %BR%- CBM RICH test mirror positioning system %BR%- Summer Student Project 2011

EPICS DIM interface

The basic idea of this device support module for EPICS is to provide an interface to the DIM protocol in order to read/write EPICS data seen from the DIM world and to act from EPICS as client/server for services and commands in the DIM regime.

... see EPICS DIM interface for further information.
Status: running system, documentation: 50%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2017-05-29

DABC extension to the EPICS DIM interface

Based upon the existing EPICS DIM interface several data structures provided by DABC (Data Acquisition Backbone Core) transporting values together with additional attributes, similar to EPICS records, via the transport mechanisms of DIM should be able to be accessed from EPICS via an extension to the above mentioned original interface.

... see DABC extension to the EPICS DIM interface for further information.
Status: project init phase, documentation: 5%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2018-01-08

HADCon(trol) / TRB based controls

The HADCon(trol) general purpose board provides access to many external interfaces and devices. This section is about interconnecting those with the EPICS technology.

Temperature measurement HADCon(trol)

The HADControl general purpose board provides access to many external interfaces and devices.
The task is to replace the already running ansatz of the HADES MDC Gas Monitor temperature measurement by a pure EPICS based design.

... more see Project Page
Status: implemented:100%; documentation: <10%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2013-03-21

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CANbus implementation on HADCon(trol) and control via access

The objective of this project is the implementation of a software on the HADCon(trol) board's AVR micro controller. This software enables the control of AVR micro controller's CANbus Interface using an (ASCII based) Application Programming Interface (API). Integrated via streamDevice driver into EPICS the control of CANbus devices will be possible within EPICS.

... more see Project Page
Status: implemented 90%; documentation:50% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-02-28

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Multi-purpose control implementation on HADCon(trol) for HADES

edit
HadCon is a general purpose IO module for detector and experiment control as well as for small data acquisition systems.



(HADControl general purpose board) Since its first application has been a power monitor for the Hades Shower Detector it has been formerly introduced and well known as HadShoPoMo (Hades Shower Power Monitor (HADControl/HadShoPoMo general purpose board).

HadCon has an SoC on-board, ETRAX 100LX MCM 4+16 from AXIS (Wikipedia: en/de) - which will be discontinued, see the new HadCon2.
Running a standard Linux the Etrax provides "Connectivity to the world" via TCP/IP.
On the other side it connects via its internal serial interface to an ATMEL AT90CAN128 microcontroller and optionally to an Xilinx CPLD.
Via this junction the ATMEL provides a multitude of possible connections to field buses and general I/O ports.
EPICS base and its applications, modules, and extensions can be cross-compiled to run on Etrax Axis' CRIS architecture (see section Architecture: ETRAX's CRIS by AXIS
• Summarizing:
  • CPU: AXIS ETRAX 100LX MCM 4+16
  • Microcontroller: ATMEL AT90CAN128
    • I²C (internal)
      • 2 × 4-channel 8-Bit DAC - Digital-to-Analog Converter
    • CANbus
      • galvanically isolated CAN - High-speed CAN Transceiver
        • optional external power supply
    • SPI
    • ADCs
    • RS232
    • 32 digital I/Os
  • CPLD: Xilinx XCR3064XL-6CS48C
  • 2 × Rotary Code Switches, hexadecimal coding
  • Ericsson PME 5218TS switching regulator for up to 6A 3.3V power usable for other boards
  • full EPICS support
This projects' objective is to combine all existing HadCon (HADControl general purpose board) implementations into one μController code for its ATMEL AT90CAN128:
• CANbus (based on the thesis and work of L.Fouedjou, see Project Page)
• One-Wire bus implementation
  • ADC
  • DAC
  • Temperature
  • Switches
• HadCon's internals
  • DACs
  • ADCs
• ...


... more see Project Page
Status: implemented 50%; documentation:10% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2020-12-11

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Multi-purpose control implementation on HADCon(trol) 2 for HADES

Show ... (Expand all... Collapse all)Hide ... (Expand all... Collapse all)

HadCon2 is a credit-card sized general purpose I/O module for detector and experiment controls as well as for small data acquisition systems.



It is the successor of the discontinued first version HadCon ( HADControl/HadShoPoMo general purpose board, HadCon @ Epics Wiki).

The module has an ATMEL AT90CAN128 microcontroller providing a multitude of connectivity:

I²C (8/4 fold (intern/extern) multiplexer), 6 channel 1-wire master, 8-channel 8bit DAC, galvanically isolated CAN - high-speed transceiver, 8-channel 10-bit SAR ADC, byte-oriented SPI, in total up-to 53 programmable I/O lines and optionally a Lattice MachX02 FPGA for fast data processing tasks.

While the discontinued precursor HadCon had an SoC on-board, its successor HadCon2 has broken up this concept in favour of a more open access:
It doesn't have any CPU on board, but a USB connector to directly allow communication with any type and size of computer (e.g. PC, raspberry PI, dreamplug, ...) having an USB port on one side and at the other end the microcontroller and the FGPA. This communication is based on an ASCII-based protocol in view of easy implementation in detector control systems like e.g. EPICS and LabVIEW.

• Summarizing:
  • Microcontroller: ATMEL AT90CAN128
    • I²C
    • CANbus
    • SPI
    • ADCs
    • ...
  • FPGA: Lattice MachX02-1200-HC
  • FTDI USB to serial UART interface
    • USB 2.0 connector
    • Power over USB
  • I²C devices
    • 6 × Single-Channel 1-Wire Master
    • 1 × 8-channel I²C-bus multiplexer with reset
    • 2 × 4-channel 8-Bit DAC - Digital-to-Analog Converter
  • galvanically isolated CAN - High-speed CAN Transceiver
    • optional external power supply
  • 2 × Rotary Code Switches, hexadecimal coding
  • Reset Button for ATMEL
  • 11 × LED's, free programmable

-- PeterZumbruch - 2014-02-07

Objective

This project's objective is to adopt the project specification made for the API for multi-purpose control implementation on HadCon to the new but very similar hardware of HadCon2. This includes the access to the different devices via an ASCII based protocol. This provides:
• ATMEL's internal
  • ADC, SPI, CANbus, I²C, Registers
• Communication with MachX02
• I²C
  • 1-Wire bus implementation via I²C
    to access 1-wire sensors and actuators:
    • ADCs
    • Temperature sensors
    • Switches
  • DACs
• Relay applications
• ...


... more see Project Page
Status: implemented 10%; documentation:30% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2020-11-09

PLC Industrial Control devices

In this section several industrial control devices running PLC or SPS programs are addressed

SattCon 200, ABB, HADES cryo control

There is a request of HADES to be able to integrate readings from the control system of their cryo system control into the EPICS control system of HADES Maybe, in a second step, also changing of values is of interest.
Right now the system runs a PLC on an ABB SattCon 200 system, which can be accessed by a Windows based control PC, via the ABB Automation PC-based programming tool DOX 10.

... more see Project Page
Status: evaluation whether it becomes a project - turned out to be not feasible; documentation:10% :
-- PeterZumbruch - 2021-06-23

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Beckhoff Device Access via EPICS ModBus
- CBM RICH test mirror positioning system
- Summer Student Project 2011

As part of the summer student program 2011 at GSI this projects objective is to develop, evaluate an exemplary motor control, on basis of basic existing components which will
• use Beckhoff devices
• be accessed via modBus
• be controlled via EPICS
• be displayed, e.g. with CSS
• (offered to be) used for TASCA, CBM, HADES

UPDATE

Meanwhile the project became more detailed, since CBM showed interest to have a RICH mirror setup motor controlled. This setup requires to have 2 servo motors with a gear reduction to tilt a gimbal mounted planar mirror element (400 mm × 400 mm) in 2 directions. It is foreseen to use this setup during CBM's next test beam time.

TASCA

Until the ordered parts have arrived, we could use spare equipment of TASCA to develop and test. Thank you.



... more see Project Page
Status: project finished; documentation:75%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-10-05

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-- PeterZumbruch - 2013-03-21

CSS developments & projects

Integration of DIM into CSS

Martin Feldmann faced the project of integrating the DIM protocol into CSS to be able to be accessed with in the Control System Suite.
... more see Project Page
-- PeterZumbruch - 29 Jun 2010

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Collection of connections and evaluation on connecting to other control systems

• LabVIEW^® by National Instruments
• MonALISA
• DAL by cosylab
• CSS - Control System Studio by DESY
There have been and for sure will be some requests on the question “How can I read/write/monitor variables from control system XYZ?”
In some cases this is realized in writing a device support module for a soft device, in other cases it means teaching the opponent to use the Channel Access protocol of EPICS, or using an intermediate Data Access Layer, or something else.
This section summarizes and collects some existing - mostly external - solutions and trials - mostly internal - to let EPICS “talk” to “others”.

LabVIEW^® by National Instruments

... for details have a look at: Connecting LabVIEW^® and EPICS

MonALISA

... for details have a look at: Connecting MonALISA and EPICS

DAL by cosylab

... for details have a look at: Using DAL to connect EPICS to other systems

CSS - Control System Studio by DESY

... for details have a look at: Using CSS - Control System Studio to connect to EPICS
-- PeterZumbruch - 2012-06-27
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Applications

• HADES Magnet Control System - MCS
• Docker based EPICS IOC for ADC readout on Odroid / RPI to readout 4-20mA
• Docker based Caen DT1470 IOC Archiver GUI Setup
• HadCon2 General I/O Register Controls
• HadCon2 APFEL Controls
• HADES MDC CAEN1527 Network and Status Watchdog
• HADES MDC Gas Monitor
• HADES RICH Current Monitor
• HADES RICH Gas Transmission Monitor
• HADES RPC Threshold setting and Temperature/Voltage/Current Monitoring
• HADES RPC Gas System Monitor
• HADES Magnet Hall Sensor - Magnetic Field Monitor
• HADES DAQ Monitor
• HADES DAQ Event Builders
• trbnet 2 EPICS implementation (Documentation)
• FOPI mbsMonitor

HADES Magnet Control System - MCS

No permission to view HadesMcs ... more see Project Page for details
Status: ~50%
No permission to view Epics
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Docker based EPICS IOC for ADC readout on Odroid / RPI to readout 4-20mA

%FOREACH{"project" in="DockerBasedIocAdcReadoutOf4To20mAonOdroidOrRaspi"}% $percntINCLUDE{"$project" section="abstract" plus="++"}$percnt ... more see Project Page for details
Status: development/configuration: finished, Testing by client/uer: 95%
$percntREVINFO{topic="$project" "-- $wikiusername - $date"}$percnt
%NEXT{"project"}%
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Docker based Caen DT1470 IOC Archiver GUI Setup

%FOREACH{"project" in="DockerCaenDT1470IocArchiverGuiSetup"}% $percntINCLUDE{"$project" section="abstract" plus="++"}$percnt ... more see Project Page for details
Status: development/configuration: finished, Testing by client/uer: 95%
$percntREVINFO{topic="$project" "-- $wikiusername - $date"}$percnt
%NEXT{"project"}%
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HadCon2 General I/O Register Controls

EPICS IOC based on StreamDevice to access HadCon2's Registers via the commands RGRE and RGWR for read and write.
• The objective is to modifiy the IO-Ports via EPICS Tools.
• Is meant as an generalized example application to be expanded or shrinked down to the end-user's needs
• code on github: https://github.com/zumbruch/HadCon2_AtmelRegisterIO_IOC
... more see Project Page for details
Status: out of the drawer, already prepared project: 95%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2015-06-26
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HadCon2 APFEL Controls

This projects objective is the control of the slow control parameters of an APFEL ASIC with the HadCon2 controller board, which itself could be connected to a computer (here a Raspberry Pi (1) Model B) running an EPICS IOC. The EPICS IOCs data are visualized using the Control System Studio CSS.
Thus the project comprises
• The implementation of the APFEL specific procotol on HadCon2's AVR
• The implementation of an APFEL specific API command on HadCon2's AVR
• The implementation of the EPICS IOC able to access the HadCon2's APFEL API command
• The implementation of an CSS based GUI set to operate the APFEL
• optional: the preparation of a Raspberry Pi Image
... more see Project Page for details
Status: running system, deployed, documentation: 95%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2017-05-29
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HADES MDC CAEN1527 Network and Status Watchdog

On Request of the HADES MDC group a local EPICS based watchdog unit is built to
1. set and get via network as EPICS client the values of an extra measurement channel of the CAEN Crate (low Voltage)
2. measures via an ADC ( HadCon2) the output voltage
3. compares the results, settings, and the status
4. in case of failures
   1. issue a "soft CPU reset" via the external, activated RESET input
   2. redo checks
   3. if still in case of failure:
      1. issue a RAMPDOWN cmd via the modified external "KILL" input of the special MDC CAEN1527LC version.
      2. wait the maximal rampdown time
      3. issue a "soft CPU reset"
      4. check output Voltage:
         1. . if still not Zero escalate Alarming
      5. remain in "safe shutdown"
... more see Project Page for details
Status: development: 30%
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HADES MDC Gas Monitor

The large scale HADES Experiment at GSI uses drift chambers for particle tracking purposes. In order to monitor the gas pressure of the filling gas the MDC Gas Monitor NIM module has been developed. It serves primarily as an interlock for the high voltage in case the pressure is out of its working range. For the remote controlling and monitoring of the pressure, of the interlocks thresholds and of several temperatures of critical electronic components the general purpose board HADControl (aka HADSHOPOMO) is used. This board, designed and developed by the EE department of GSI (M.Traxler) is based on the ETRAX single chip computer by AXIS running Linux.
This projects tasks is
• to monitor via EPICS
  • the temperatures which are read out via single-wire bus protocol
  • the voltage, representing the gas pressure
• to control and monitor via EPICS
  • lower and upper threshold settings for the interlock for the HV supply, which reacts on the gas pressure.
For this purpose the results of several projects of the EPICS and HADES groups at GSI are used.

... more see Project Page for details
Status: running system, documentation: 80%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-02-25
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HADES RICH Current Monitor

The large scale HADES Experiment at GSI uses a RICH (ring imaging cherenkov detector) for particle discrimination and (basic) tracking purposes. In order to monitor the currents on the detection plane in each of the six sectors, an ADC board has been developed by the Munic RICH team. It communicates via CANbus. Currently it is connected to a VME CPU via an IPAC carrier module. The VME CPU is running the EPICS IOC accessing the ADC board.
The projects objective is to gradually replace this system with a HadCon2 based Ansatz.
1. Collect status, documentation and requirements
   • physical location
   • available documentation
   • scan rates
2. Keep the ADC board, but replace the VME based CANbus controller by the HadCon2 and communicate via HadCon2's CAN commands with the existing ADC port
3. replace the ADC board by
   1. HadCon2 and its internal 10bit ADC b. HadCon2 and its internal FPGA based ADC c. HadCon2 connected to an external ADC, e.g. OwAdc1

... more see Project Page for details
Status: stopped: 100%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2015-03-03
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HADES RICH Gas Transmission Monitor

The large scale HADES Experiment at GSI uses a RICH (ring imaging cherenkov detector) for particle discrimination and (basic) tracking purposes. In order to monitor the gas quality concering UV transmission, an ADC board has been developed by the Munic RICH team. It communicates via CANbus. Currently it is connected to a VME CPU via an IPAC carrier module. The VME CPU is running the EPICS IOC accessing the ADC board.
The projects objective is to gradually replace this system with a HadCon2 based Ansatz.
1. Collect status, documentation and requirements
   • physical location
   • available documentation
   • scan rates
2. Keep the ADC board, but replace the VME based CANbus controller by the HadCon2 and communicate via HadCon2's CAN commands with the existing ADC port
3. replace the ADC board by
   1. HadCon2 and its internal 10bit ADC b. HadCon2 and its internal FPGA based ADC c. HadCon2 connected to an external ADC, e.g. OwAdc1

... more see Project Page for details

Status: kickoff: 27 Jan 2015, documentation 5%

-- PeterZumbruch - 2015-07-31 r2 - 2015-02-04 - 10:14:11 - PeterZumbruch
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HADES RPC Threshold setting and Temperature/Voltage/Current Monitoring

The large scale HADES Experiment at GSI upgrades the new RPC (resistive plate chamber) detector of HADES.
The readout is based upon the TRBv2: General Purpose Trigger and Readout Board ()
Therefore the RPC setup requires control and monitoring elements to set and read two threshold settings for each RPC channel.
In addition 1-Wire^© bus based temperature sensors on DAQ boards have to be monitored.
These data are collected via the AXIS' ETRAX FS chip on the TRBv2 board responsible for the DAQ. Since EPICS can be run on ETRAX's cris architectures, EPICS will be used to provide this functionality.
As a further device the proposed Low Voltage Supply Board's temperature, voltages and currents have to be monitored via the ETRAX LX based HADcon(trol) general purpose board module (a.k.a. HADShoPoMo).

... more see Project page for details.
Status: currently developed
-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-07-14
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HADES RPC Gas System Monitor

Besides the Threshold setting and Temperature/Voltage/Current Monitoring the RPC (resistive plate chamber) detector of HADES requires EPICS based monitoring of their gas system parameters.
The data of the gas system are retrieved by a proprietary hardware controller controlling/monitoring flow (set/get), and (differential) pressure (get). It is accessible via CANbus. This CANbus is connected to a HADcon(trol) general purpose board, where an EPICS Server is running. This IOC collects the data provided by the HADcon's microcontroller via the streamDevice protocol and provides them to EPICS clients such as a CSS based BOY GUI build for this purpose.


... more see Project page for details.
Status: running remote setup (Coimbra), documentation: 110%, project finished, extended on request
-- PeterZumbruch - 2015-07-31
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HADES Magnet Hall Sensor - Magnetic Field Monitor

Using the port folio of HadCon based applications the objective of this project is to realize a reading of several hall sensor values to be available inside HADES EPICS based control system.
The major components are:
• (HADES Magnet)
• Hall sensor(s)
  • Manual_F779.02.02-1.8.pdf: Manual of the Hall-Sensors
• sensor line(s)
• 1-wire 16-bit Quad ADC(s) DS2450 (data sheet)
  • The 1-wire ADCs are placed on a small separate PCB:
    • OWADC1:
      • Schematics of OWADC1
• HadCon
• HadCon API
• already existing EPICS database templates (already used by RPC Low Voltage controls)
• HADES HadCon startup script environment
Notes:
• For this application 2 sensors are planned which feed separate 1-wire buses.

... more see Project page for details.
Status:design started, documentation: 10%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2013-03-21
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HADES DAQ Monitor

The HADES data acquisition system is based on the trbnet architecture. Its status and controls are accessed via the command (shell,library) trbnet. Up to now its (ASCII) output is efficiently parsed by perl routines and displayed in an ASCII view or forwarded to gnu-plot. Those plots are dynamically created depending on the data return of trbnet and its dynamic configuration.
In view of an integration of at least the monitoring features into the already used EPICS system at HADES this data flow should be extended/replaced.
Possible problems might occur due to missing features for dynamic behavior of the gui (maybe solved by JavaScript scripts, using BOY GUIs of CSS (SNS)), insufficient performance, and/or complex data structures to transport.

... more see Project page for details.
Status: first dummy implementation for playground, documentation: 50%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2018-01-08
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HADES DAQ Event Builders

HADES data acquisition's event builders have dedicated IOCs which:
• - by methods of memory mapping -
  provides information about the status,
• AND
  - by a master and slave mechanism -
  provides an efficient method to synchronize and load balance up to 16 event builder cores each of it having up to 25 input streams.
This EPICS based design has been originally develloped and maintained by Sergey Yurevich, HADES, GSI. Since he left GSI, the HADES collaboration, and science at all, I (PZ) have been asked to take over maintenance and further requests.

The objective of this project is therefore to provide an additional documentation of the system and a collection of links to the existing documentation of the HADES collaboration's wiki.

... more see Project page for details.
Status: in principle a summary and collection of links for maintainance an existing system, documentation: 5%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2011-07-06
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trbnet 2 EPICS implementation (Documentation)

edit

EPICS trbnet Applicatons

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trbnet to EPICS implementation using aSub records

Starting within the HADES project, an EPICS application for the readout of the CTU (central trigger unit) has been built by Burkhard Kolb. This EPICS IOC connects to the " trbnet command server" and, reads and writes array blocks of information, using the libtrbnet library into EPICS asub records. In a second step, up-to-now: integrated, but to be disentangled in future, the CTU specific information is derived by breaking the information down into single units of information by properly decoding the basic information. When writing this information has to be combined before writing again to the trbnet.
The following elements are used and/or described:
• trbnet
  • documentation at http://jspc22.x-matter.uni-frankfurt.de/pub/trbnetdocumentation.pdf
  • libtrbnet:
    • CVS Root: :ext:hadaq@lxi001:/misc/hadesprojects/daq/cvsroot
    • CVS Module: trbsoft/libtrbnet
• aSub Records
• EPICS IOC
  • trbnet_ioc:
    • git:
      • http://jspc29.x-matter.uni-frankfurt.de/git/?p=epics.git;a=tree;f=Trbnet/trbnetIoc;h=ae513bbd84bd9e39aa6d3e4c75b1c15643f97745;hb=HEAD
    • cvs
      • CVS Root: :ext:scs@lx-pool.gsi.de:/u/scs/cvs/repository/scs
      • CVS Module: scs-linux/epics_apps/trbnet
... more see Project Page for details
-- PeterZumbruch - 2016-09-08
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device support module

Florian Feldbauer, Andreas Neiser HIM/GSI, PANDA
see code : at http://jspc29.x-matter.uni-frankfurt.de/git/?p=epics.git;a=tree;f=Trbnet/devTrbnet;h=67b63176b98932613015a6f003a0a0975e664714;hb=HEAD
or download:
git clone git://jspc29.x-matter.uni-frankfurt.de/projects/epics.git
... wir hatten angefangen an einer Schnittstelle EPICS-trbnet zu arbeiten. Da aber in PANDA beschlossen wurde, dass das spaeter alles ueber SODAnet und nicht über EPICS laufen wird, und auch weil die Implementierung des Broadcast features vom trbnet eine sehr speicherlastige loesung erfordert haette, wurde diese Arbeit hier nicht weiter verfolgt... (FF 09/2016)
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... more see Project page for details.
Status: , documentation: 10%
-- PeterZumbruch - 2020-11-09
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FOPI mbsMonitor

MBS status IOC.
• In order to connect to the MBS status port an IOC was programmed by Jörn Adamczewski.
• A medm user interface is available from Hans Essel.
The FOPI experiment at GSI is/was(?) using this interface to monitor the status of its MBS experiment.
... more on FOPI's usage of the MBS monitor
Status: running system
-- PeterZumbruch - 2007-09-14
-- PeterZumbruch - 06 Sep 2007
-- PeterZumbruch - 2021-05-26
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Projects

• widespread tasks & developments
  • Person(s) in charge
  • EPICS @ raspberry pi
  • EPICS @ dreamplug
  • EPICS @ Windows
  • EPICS / DABC / DIM
  • CSS
  • HADCON
  • standalone Lambda TDK control
• HADES support / developments
  • Person(s) in charge
  • Documentation
  • current or nearby projects
    • (updating) documentation, long-term
    • code versioning, long-term
    • HADES CAEN based HV
    • HADES MDC HV trip sequencer
    • HADES / HADCON: triple redundancy 1-wire ADC readout
  • open projects
    • HADES RICH current readout, replace VME/CANbus based readout by hadcon2 (CANbus)
    • HADES ISEG HV CAN Control
    • HADES / HADCON Gas Balances, replace VME based readout by hadcon2
    • HADES MDC: Δp interlock relay
    • HADES / HADCON: VME SIAM module - replacement by hadcon2 based readout
    • HADES RPC: HADCON 1-wire 8-switches (database)
• CBM support / developments
  • Person(s) in charge
  • Beamtime COSY Jan 2012
  • Beamtime COSY Jul 2012, setup of S.Loechner
  • Beamtime CERN Oct/Nov 2012
  • Code versioning
  • Beamtime modules
  • Beamtime equipment
This list represents the current projects as an overview, therefore duplicate entries may occur.

widespread tasks & developments

Person(s) in charge

• Peter Zumbruch

EPICS @ raspberry pi

• LAND, EE, HADCON
• gain experience

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EPICS @ dreamplug

• documentation
• HADES, LAND, HADCON

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EPICS @ Windows

• gain experience

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EPICS / DABC / DIM

• code review
• pure EPICS / DABC

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CSS

• product: PandaWiki:DCS/PANDACSS

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HADCON

• code review
• add-ons

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standalone Lambda TDK control

• circumvent LAN hang-ups
  • LAN control and 1-wire based switches/controls, q.v. MDC-LV-RC1, controlled by hadcon2/dreamplug/raspberry pi
  • direct RS232 / RS422 connection via com-server / hadcon / dreamplug
  • 5V / TTL signal ?
• CBM/TASCA/EE

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HADES support / developments

Person(s) in charge

• Peter Zumbruch

Documentation

• HadesWiki:DaqSlowControl/SlowControl

current or nearby projects

(updating) documentation, long-term

• HadesWiki:DaqSlowControl/SlowControl
• EpicsProjectsAndActivities#HadesControlSystem_Documentation

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code versioning, long-term

• CVS
• SVN
• GIT ?

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HADES CAEN based HV

• documentation
• improving startup procedure
  • connection check
  • on start crate configuration skript/programm
• perl based sequencer, database, creation
• reorganization
  • migration of MDC to new crate &arr; new sequencers
  • migration of HV control from VME control via caennet (MDC) &arr; main IOC &arr; separate HV control PC (maybe lxhadesdaq01?)

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HADES MDC HV trip sequencer

• migration to linux box away from VME
  • network based control sequences
  • introduction of Hardware Limits
• improving existing trip sequencer by stepping HV behaviour
  • documentation missing

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HADES / HADCON: triple redundancy 1-wire ADC readout

• in an noisy environment, the 1-wire ADC readout (via OwAdc1) used at several places suffers from spikes
  • w/ a typical scan rate of 0.1-1 Hz a falls signal may be persistent for almost 10 seconds, provoking false interlock signals
  • e.g. differential pressure measurement MDC
  • absolute pressure measurement
• implement to HADCON 1-wire control command OWAD a feature, to perform a triple read of a channel, and remove a possible spike

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open projects

HADES RICH current readout, replace VME/CANbus based readout by hadcon2 (CANbus)

see HadesRichCurrentMonitor

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HADES ISEG HV CAN Control

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HADES / HADCON Gas Balances, replace VME based readout by hadcon2

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HADES MDC: Δp interlock relay

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HADES / HADCON: VME SIAM module - replacement by hadcon2 based readout

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HADES RPC: HADCON 1-wire 8-switches (database)

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...

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CBM support / developments

Person(s) in charge

• Peter Zumbruch

Beamtime COSY Jan 2012

• c.f. especially section: Slow Control

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Beamtime COSY Jul 2012, setup of S.Loechner

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Beamtime CERN Oct/Nov 2012

• c.f. especially section: Slow Control

Code versioning

• SVN repository, single out to pure EPICS
• collect existing code

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Beamtime modules

• modularize existing code
• add archiver RDB / file-based
• alarm handler

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Beamtime equipment

• replace epx01 (borrowed by B.Kolb) by new PC
  • unifiy users
• EXSYS 6030 comports buy

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-- PeterZumbruch - 2015-01-27
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Documentation and Overview of HADES slow control system

• Coordination
• Links
• Hardware
  • HadCon based systems
  • HadCon2 based systems
• Software
  • EPICS
  • IOCs
-- PeterZumbruch - 2012-03-05
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Collaboration(s)

HADES

• HADES site
• http://wiki-hades.gsi.de

CBM

• CBM site
• Wiki: Detector Control System

PANDA

• PANDA site
• http://panda-controls.gsi.de

NUSTAR R³B

• NUSTAR site
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-- PeterZumbruch - 06 Nov 2015

Others EPICS Projects

• Introduction
  • Raul Kantemir - "Konzeption eines Slow Control Systems für Ge-Detektoren"
-- PeterZumbruch - 2016-02-19
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-- PeterZumbruch - 19 Feb 2016
This topic: Epics > WebHome > EpicsProjectsAndActivities
Topic revision: 2016-02-19, PeterZumbruch

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