EPICS GUIs in CSS : Summer Project 2010

This is a 6-week summer student project starting June 22, 2010:

Title: 'Designing the look and feel of detector control system GUIs'
Student: PaulMullen
Supervisors: DanProtopopescu, DaveIreland
Group: NPE

Description

Modern nuclear and particle physics experiments require the careful monitoring of detector systems, as well as the ability to control automatically the operation of these systems. This project would aim to create template graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for use in controlling and monitoring various aspects of a detector system. The outcomes would be a set of source codes for the template GUIs, and wiki-based documentation on how to extend these templates for specific applications. A framework for creating these GUIs exists - "Control System Studio" (CSS) - as well as the software to communicate with detector systems (EPICS). This work will be of great value to the nuclear physics group in the development of future experiments.

Starting Documentation

Resources:

• EPICS (GSI wiki)
• CSS (Control System Studio)
• PANDA DCS wiki | eLog

Progress Journal

• Create NPE linux, wiki and elog accounts
• Install EPICS
• Install CSS
• Get familiar with SDS (Synoptic Display Studio)
• Set up a toy EPICS system with one channel, and play with caget and caput
• Set up and EPICS sender and a simple GUI showing a strip chart
• Example involving a CALC variable
• Standalone GUI
• Example with two variables, one being controlled via the GUI; 2 strip charts on the same canvas
• Example with buttons that control a script (start/stop); displays the status of this script; shows some alarms
• Control panel GUI with buttons that start other GUIs
• Advanced template for PANDA GUIs (use variables from DIPOL subsystem, PV naming convention for the EPICS db)
• Contact CSS developers about: Java code, standalone GUIs, login issues, various bugs
• Root online analysis and EPICS

Resulting documentation

This project is documented in the following wikis:

• CSSGUIs - from EPICS basics to your first CSS GUIs
• DipolGUI - writing an actual PANDA GUI based on DCS_REQ info
• ColourScriptGUI - writing CSS-SDSS Java functions
• RootAndEPICS - Root online analysis and EPICS

Report

The student is required to write a short report about the work before he/she finishes. It should be a minimum of two A4 pages in length and describe what he/she did in the 6 or 8 weeks of the project. It should be submitted to the project supervisor in the first instance, and then copies sent to the Research Group Leader (if a research topic) or to the Chair of the Teaching Committee (if a teaching project) and also to Lynne Stewart.

Final report in PDF (attached and linked here): Paul_Mullen-Report2.pdf

-- DanProtopopescu - 23 Jul 2010

imported from nuclear.gla.ac.uk/twiki/bin/view.pl/Main/EPICSGUIsInCSSSummerProject -- PeterZumbruch - 23 Aug 2012