Status of the Use of Large-Scale Corba-Distributed Software Framework for NIF Controls

Abstract

The Integrated Computer Control System (ICCS) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is based on a scalable software framework that will be distributed over some 750 Computers throughout the NIF. The framework provides templates and services at multiple levels of abstraction for the construction of software applications that communicate via CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture). Object-oriented software design patterns are implemented as templates to be extended by application software. Developers extend the framework base classes to model the numerous physical control points. About 140 thousand software objects, each individually addressable through CORBA, will be active at full scale. Most of the objects have persistent state that is initialized at system start-up and stored in a database. Centralized server programs that implement events, alerts, reservations, message logging, data archive, name services, and process management provide additional framework services. A higher-level model-based, distributed shot automation framework also provides a flexible and scalable scripted framework for automatic sequencing of work-flow for control and monitoring of NIF shots. The ICCS software framework has allowed for efficient construction of a software system that supports a large number of distributed control points representing a complex control application. Status of the use of this framework during first experimental shot campaigns and initial commissioning and build-out of the laser facility is described