Understanding the LHC Controls Challenges

The analysis, design and construction of the LHC control system is a complex problem which will challenge CERN's capability to provide a modern controls infrastructure fulfilling the stringent operational requirements of this machine. The first part of this talk will review the present LHC project context in which several controls initiatives have already been taken. The second part will try to highlight the important technical aspects and engineering steps involved in the process of defining a control system architecture. The importance of understanding the major LHC operational challenges will be stressed along with some practical proposals and examples on how to conduct such activity with all stakeholders

XUIMS: the X-Window User Interface Management System at CERN

The CERN X-Window User Interface Management System (XUIMS) is a modular and highly configurable software development environment allowing the interactive design, prototyping, and production of OSF/Motif Human Computer Interfaces (HCI). Fully compliant with the X11R5 and OSF/Motif industry standards, XUIMS covers complex software areas like the development of schematics, the visualization and on-line interactions with 2D and 3D scientific data, the display of relational database data, and the direct access to CERN SPS and LEP accelerators equipment. The guarantee of consistency across the applications and the encapsulation of complex functionality in re-usable and user-friendly components has also been implemented through the development of home made graphical objects (widgets) and templates. The XUIMS environment is built with commercial software products integrated in the CERN SPS and LEP controls infrastructure with a very limited home-made effort. Productivity and quality have been improved through less coding and better HCI prototyping

The new generation of PowerPC VMEbus front end computers for the CERN SPS and LEP accelerators control system

The CERN SPS and LEP PowerPC project is aimed at introducing a new generation of PowerPC VMEbus processor modules running the LynxOS real-time operating system. This new generation of front end computers using the state-of-the-art microprocessor technology will first replace the obsolete Xenix PC based systems (about 140 installations) successfully used since 1988 to control the LEP accelerator. The major issues addressed in the scope of this large scale project are the technical specification for the new PowerPC technology, the re-engineering aspects, the interfaces with other CERN wide projects, and the set up of a development environment. This project offers also support for other major SPS and LEP projects interested in the PowerPC microprocessor technology

Project management as a breakthrough at CERN

Building and maintaining control systems for high energy physics is becoming an increasingly complex and costly activity. The quickly evolving technology and the tight budget conditions require today a better management of our engineering activities. This situation led us to organise these activities as "projects" and to use modern project management practices already widely spread in industry. In this context, many aspects of the re-engineering of the controls infrastructure of the two CERN largest particle accelerators - SPS and LEP - as well as the supervision of the CERN wide technical services are fully conducted as projects with special control over the costs, resources, objectives, activities and maintenance aspects. This paper presents our experience in project-based management with special emphasis on its applicability in a research environment, on the impact on the current working pratices and on the potential benefits for the future. Some key concepts and techniques of project management are introduced and illustrated through pratical examples

Upgrading the SPS Operational Software for the LHC Era: The SPS-2001 Software Project

In December 1996, it was decided to set up a project to re-engineer the CERN SPS Accelerator application software to improve the operational efficiency and to cover the specific needs of the SPS as LHC injector. The mandate of this project is to provide a first working version of the software in June 2001 and a final version in July 2003. It will make use of the emerging CERN accelerator control infrastructure amongst which the new Java Application Programming Interface (this conference). This presentation reviews the reasons why the project was launched, its scope and objectives, the project planning and the methods used to run the analysis. The first results of the analysis phase and their implications for the application software, for the control infrastructure and for the accelerator equipment software services will be presented

Summary and Recommendations from the Review of LTI and CNGS Controls held at CERN on July 10th, 2001

The Review of LHC Transfer lines and Injection (LTI) and CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso (CNGS) Controls was the first overview of requirements and preparations for the control of these facilities. Participants were asked to outline work that was already underway or planned in order to build an account of activities and responsibilities. The control of CNGS facilities downstream of the primary target was not included

Re-Engineering of the CERN Accelerators and Services Control System based on VMEbus and PowerPC Technology

A new generation of PowerPC VMEbus front-end computers is being introduced in the CERN accelerators and services control system infrastructure. This new technology is aimed at replacing existing PC based front-end computers and at offering a high performance microprocessor platform for present and future engineering developments for the LHC era. This paper describes the re-engineering strategy and the core architecture of the new systems. Special performance issues are also addressed in this paper

Summary of the LHC Controls and Operations Forum held at CERN on 1-2 December 1999

The LHC Controls-Operations Forum in December attempted to identify the challenges of running the LHC and the implications for controls and equipment. An outline of the forum, its objectives, summaries of the various sessions, conclusions and some recommendations are presented. It is anticipated that this information will act as input into current and future development

The CERN PS/SL Controls Java Application Programming Interface

The PS/SL Convergence Project was launched in March 1998. Its objective is to deliver a common controls infrastructure for the CERN accelerators by year 2001. In the framework of this convergence activity, a project was launched to develop a Java Application Programming Interface (API) between programs written in the Java language and the PS and SL accelerator equipment. This Java API was specified and developed in collaboration with TJNAF. It is based on the Java CDEV [1] package that has been extended in order to end up with a CERN/TJNAF common product. It implements a detailed model composed of devices organised in named classes that provide a property-based interface. It supports data subscription and introspection facilities. The device model is presented and the capabilities of the API are described with syntax examples. The software architecture is also described

Induction of lymphangiogenesis in and around axillary lymph node metastases of patients with breast cancer

We studied the presence of lymphangiogenesis in lymph node (LN) metastases of breast cancer. Lymph vessels were present in 52 of 61 (85.2%) metastatically involved LNs vs 26 of 104 (25.0%) uninvolved LNs (P<0.001). Furthermore, median intra- and perinodal lymphatic endothelial cell proliferation fractions were higher in metastatically involved LNs (P<0.001). This is the first report demonstrating lymphangiogenesis in LN metastases of cancer in general and breast cancer in particular