http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/c81/papers/fp-08.pdfInternational audienc

Bardon, P.

Baumgarten, R.

Cardin, L.

Clément, J.

David, L.

Duneau, P.

Jeannel, P.

Le Poec, C.

Leveel, S.

Loyant, J.M.

Loyer, F.

Luong, T.T.

Lécorché, E.

Piquet, B.

Ponthieux, C.

Promé, M.

Rist, G.

Ulrich, M.

Vassent, M.

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THE GANIL CONTROL SYSTEM AS SEEN FROM THE CONTROL ROOM P. BARDON , R. BAUMGARTEN , L.CARDIN, L.DAVID, P.DUNEAU, P.JEANNEL, E.LECORCHE, C.LE POEC, S.LEVEEL, J.M.LOYANT, F.LOYER, T.T.LUONG, B.PIQUET, C.PONTHIEUX, M.PROME, G.RIST, M.ULRICH, M.VASSENT, J. CLEMENT. GANIL BP 5027 14021 CAEN Cedex (France) tel (31) 94 81 11 Telex: 170533 F Abstract.- In a first part, the control system hardware is described. It is explained how microprocessors are used to perform local tasks and how they are seen from the operator. The nature of signals sent to the control room is discussed, as well as the reason why they are sent.In a second part, the consoles design philosophy is given. It is explained how the operator can use these consoles either at an elementary level or at a more sophisticated one. I. Introduction.- Since the beginning of the GANIL pro-ject, it was decided that the accelerator would be fully computer controlled. The reason for that choice stems from the fact that GANIL is a variable energy ma-chine designed to accelerate a wide range of ions. Changing the energy requires to modify a large number of parameters ;this cannot be easily achieved without the help of a computer. The purpose of this paper is to explain how the opera-tor will interact with the accelerator via consoles in the control room or elsewhere. Traditional control rooms are equipped with a large number of meters and knobs (one per equipment to be controlled). Using a computer allows to replace those dedicated meters and knobs by a very small amount of general purpose displays and knobs that can be assi-gned to any equipment the operator wishes to control. In this elementary level of operation one knob inter-acts with a single equipment, the computer behaving as a large multiplexer. At a higher level of operation the operator can run dedicated programs especially written for global procedures. The way of using the consoles has been chosen as sim-ple as possible. Most of the time the operator has just to show what he wants by pressing either a clas-sical knob or a touch panel. It means that there is no keyboard in the consoles, except very small ones for entering numerical values. When possible the parameters the programs need are entered as YES or NO anwers to questions like : "do you want this or not?" Informations on the accelerator behaviour available to the computer fall in one of the two classes : alarms and warnings, or general informations. Alarms and war-nings interrupt the computer ; each of them results in editing a message on a color screen and a line on a printer ; a bell is rung to draw attention. Such an alarm is generally a consequence of a security action taken by a local automat to prevent equipment damages. General informations are displayed only if the opera-tor asks for them, and only the ones which have been asked for. Usually the operator will require informa-tions either when tuning the accelerator or after an alarm message has been displayed. Doing it this way, the operator is not drawn in a flow of informations only a few percent of which are relevant to him. 2. The Control system hardware.- An overall view of the computer control system for the GANIL has been descri-bed elsewhere (2). 2.1. ~Ei~f_~~~£EiE~i~~ The schematic layout is shown in Figure I. ~ _______ LOOP 2 Fig. I A: Type A crate controller L: Type L crate controller J: Autonomous controller (JCAM 10) S: Serial Driver D: Data link between CAMAC systems P: Data link with programmable controller Arrows : links to the accelerator The control system has been essentially designed a-round 3 kinds of processors : computers, microproces-sors and programmable controllers. CAMAC is the digi-tal transmission system used to interface the proces-sors to the GANIL facilities. The control computer is a MITRA 125 equipped with 128K 16 bits words of memory, 2 disks of 5 Mbytes, a line printer and a parallel CAMAC coupler. In case of break-down, the activities of the control computer will be taken over by an other MITRA 125 which is more power-fully sized with 192 Kwords of memory and equipped with 4 disks of 5 Mbytes,2 magnetic tapes, a line prin-ter and CAMAC parallel couplers. This back up computer is normally devoted to on-line measurements, batch jobs and software developments. The control computer drives a parallel CAMAC branch handling- two serial CAMAC loops operating in bit serial mode at 2.5 MHz frequen-cy and the main operator console. Four movable consoles that can be plugged on the serial loops allow the operator to be on line with the compu-ter at the place of the equipment for local information flow checkings and diagnostics. Every console unit linked to the control system is un-der the command of an autonomous crate controller na-med JCAM 10. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Cyclotrons and their ApplicationsSeptember 1981, Caen, France6092.2. The console JCAM 10 -------------------A careful analysis of the console operations has poin-ted out that the most part of its tasks need not to be performed by the control computer itself. Therefore, introducing some local intelligence to run these tasks and consequently to save the main computer time is an interesting and beneficial way to control the console unit. So was it decided through the JCAMIO. Every JCAM 10 is equipped with an INTEL 8080 micropro-cessor and is linked to the control computer via spe-cial data links which have been made to fulfil our de-sign specifications. The dialogue between the MITRA 125 and the JCAM 10 is message oriented. The leading parts of a console JCAM 10 are : I) to interpret the operator request. As a simple request generally results from several actions by the operator, it is the duty of the JCAM 10 to check that all these actions are pertinent, parti-cularly with regard to any misuse of the console faci-lities. The JCAM 10 will interrupt the control compu-ter only when the operator request is fully stated in the correct manner. 2) to display informations enclosed in messages sent by the control computer. These informations come as crude display lists. The JCAM 10 has to transform the-se lists into sequences of CAMAC orders sent to the CAMAC display drivers. Let us give some examples of the console JCAM 10 ac ti vi ties. * Hooking an equipment. Every time the operator presses the touch panel selector the JCAM 10 is in action to turn the corresponding page of the operational names tree. (Equipments are known by the operator through their operational names). Once the operator has pin pointed on the touch panel the equipment he wants to hook - a leaf of the opera-tional names tree - and designated the associated shaft encoder, the JCAM 10 will interrupt the control computer for a hook request message. According to the answer of the MITRA 125 the hook re-quest is accepted or refused. This answer is interpre-ted by the JCAM 10 which displays corresponding messa-ges on the TV Screen area assigned to the shaft enco-der knob (Figure 3). In case of successful hook attempt, the JCAM 10 will store, in particular, useful informations for updating operation. * Watching the on-line shaft encoders. Periodically -say every 300 ms - the console JCAM 10 looks at the hooked shaft encoders to check wether they have been turned or not in the mean time. The JCAM 10 sends if any the incremental values to the control computer. The MITRA 125 will return to the JCAM 10 the new re-quested absolute values or an error code in case of ina-dequate request (MIN/MAX values reached, or something else). This error code is translated into error messa-ge and properly displayed by the JCAM 10. 2.3. ~~~l~g_~ig~~!~ Among the numerous signals collected along the accele-rator, most of them concerning parameters values or status are digitalized and enter the data flow trans-mitted by the CAMAC system for processing. Many signals remain which are to be used in their ana-log form. This is the case of most beam diagnostics signals and more generally every time that waveform observation is neces?ary. A signal observation system (SOS) has been built on CERN specifications to enable analog waveform to be observed in the control room. Up to 200 signals at frequency < I MHz can be taken into account. These signals can be displayed on autoranged galvanome-ters or on oscilloscopes. This system is quite suitable for beam diagnostics de-vices such as wire chambers. The very high frequency analog signals (- I GHz) for phase extension diagnos-tics can also be observed, after a sampling process, wi th the SOS. RF cavity signals are transmitted via a specific system to the control room and pass through an autonomous mul-tiplexer before being displayed on a 100 MHz oscillos-cope screen for observation. 3. The Console system. 3.1. ~~~£~iE~i~~. As said in the introduction, the normal way to control the GANIL facility is to interact with the control sys-tem via consoles. There are - the main console located in the control room and directly linked to the parallel CAMAC branch-and four movable consoles which can be connected on the serial loops for local operations (Figure I). The main console, mechanically built with II benches, is divided into 3 operating console units I, II and III (Figure 2). The central console unit II is devoted to equipments not linked to the computer such as source and RF equip-ments. Console units I and III are identical. From a logical point of view, console unit I or III (Figure 3) is divided into 4 areas a, B, y, 0 : - Area a ando are logically identical. Area a 1S exactly the image of a movable console. - Area S 1S related to analog signals. - Area y 1S devoted to synoptic_d_iggrams display. r-:J ~ = G TP(2) Fig. 3: BW Black and white TV Monitor KB : Keyboard G: Autoranged Galvanometer M : Memoscope K: Shaft encoder Knob S : Scope TB: Track ball i C: Color TV Monitor for synoptic diagrams display TP: Touch panel selector 3.2. ~~~~~~_~~~~~~g_l~~~!~. Controlling the GANIL process with the console system can be exercised at the elementary level or at a higher level. 3.2. I. Elementary level operations. At the elementary level the control system behaves as a multiplexer. Equipments designated by their operational names are handled one by one. The operator uses tAe touch panel and turns the pages of the operational names tree to choose the one corres-ponding to t;le equipment he wants to control. Then he can hook a free shaft encoder knob (one of the four lo-cated at the lowest part of the console unit and asso-Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Cyclotrons and their ApplicationsSeptember 1981, Caen, France610ciated with a TV monitor screen) to the selected equip-ment by pressing the hook button. If the hook request is accepted by the control computer, the hook button will light up and the operator can read on the TV Screen area assigned to the knob various informations such as the controlled value of the parameter, its ac-tual value and a status word. All these informations are updated every 300 ms. If the equipment to be con-trolled is already reserved by an other console unit or by a task, the hook request is refused and a warning message is written on the screen. sse 1 0~0CJ vaeuum/Joo~-~ o IN DQ CJ s ep tum rrr.TNl magnetl~ . unhook operation is achieved by pressing the corres-ponding unhook button : the associated screen area is erased and the hook button goes out. . Status control actions can be performed with a hook-ed equipment. There are ON-OFF and RESET. ON and OFF orders are for instance relevant to power supplies or vacuum valves whereas RESET is quite suitable to power supplies. These status control actions are carried out with very simple specific press-button protocoles. The Area S of the console unit is assigned to analog signals to be displayed on galvanometers or oscillos-cope. The wanted analog signal is obtained by turning the pages of an analog signal tree with the touch pa-nel selector. The operator hooks the signal to a galva-nometer by pressing the associated button which lights up in case of successful hook attempt. The same button is used to clear the galvanometer. Galvanometers can be used in auto-range mode. A TV mo-nitor BW(l) gives informations concerning the analog signals appearing on the galvanometers and on the sco-pes: analog signals names, scales, etc, .... 3.2.2. High level operations. Full benefit of the Control System can only be taken with high level operations. While playing with a touch panel selector of area a or area 0, the operator has access to the tasks tree and turns pages to reach the individual task he intends to run. Each task has to reserve an area on the TV monitorBW(3) screen for messages and data display. The operator can only accept or modify values given by the task. He ans-wers by enabling the cursor, moving it within the screen area reserved for the task. Then he modifies, if necessary, the displayed values with the small nume-ric keyboard and sends them to the computer. These ope-rations are illustrated on Figure 5. TASK 1 ~ ~ .wJ[<;Yi! TASK] --- -----Fig. 5 7 8 4 5 1 2 +/- a 9 6 ] nv • Eff sends the dlspliJjed ~lue erases the last entered digit ITas~-1 f III-§l "------r-------.. running TASK 1 Tass button completed - - TASK 3 -- packs the running --------- screen It is possible for tasks to reserve one or several shaft encoders to drive equipments. When a specific message appears on the TV monitor BW(2) inviting him to designate a shaft, the operator presses a free hook button to hook the corresponding shaft. In that case, unhook can be achieved only by programmed unhook request or by task's end. Tasks can also write alphanumeric messages or draw graphical lines on the memoscope screen. 3.3. Q~=li~~_~Y~~E!~£_~~~g~~~. The area y of the console unit I or III is used to display synoptic diagrams of subsets of the accelera-tor. This area comprises a trackball and a color TV monitor. Color is a leading feature for such an appli-cation. The shape of the drawing gives the status of an equipment (ON/OFF, OPENED/CLOSED) while its coded color indicates if this situation is to be considered as normal or not. The actual values of different para-meters can also be read on the synoptic diagram (fre-quency, intensity, pressure, etc .... ). All variable informations, such as status and parameters values, are updated every 600 milliseconds. Synoptic diagrams are organized into a tree structure, so that all synoptic diagrams stem from the general layout of the GANIL one. The operator uses the track-ball to choose among a list located on the right of the displayed synoptic diagram the name of the next diagram he would like to observe and so forth, down to the most elementary subset diagram. 3.4. !~~_~~~~_~£E~~~. A color TV monitor located in the middle of the main console, i.e., belonging to the console unit II, is used for alarm messages display. There are several kinds of alarms ; to each of them corresponds a color code. For instance, CAMAC alarms are edited in red upon a yellow background. A buzzer vibrates to call attention every time a new alarm mes-sage appears on the screen. 4. The Present situation. - The GANIL operating soft-ware called GANICIEL which is written in LTR - a high level real time language - is almost completed. Pieces of it are already tested or running. The JCAM 10 soft-ware written in assembly language is presently under test. The main console is installed and partially equipped. Our major effort is dedicated to the movable consoles equipment since they are more adequate to fulfil the users' requirements during the GANIL construction and tests time. So a movable console assigned to the in-jector cyclotron control is already completed and the results of the first operations at the elementary le-vel as well as at the higher level (running a user's task to check the beam position) are quite encouraging. References. I. J. FERME, M. GOUTTEFANGEAS and the GANIL Group. "Status Report on GANIL" - this conference. 2. M. PROME "The GANIL Control System" IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. NS-28, N°3, June 1981. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Cyclotrons and their ApplicationsSeptember 1981, Caen, France611

The GANIL control system as seen from the control room

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The GANIL control system as seen from the control room

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