A versatile and light-weight slow control system for small-scale applications

TL;DR

This paper introduces Doberman, an open source, modular, and lightweight slow control system designed for small to medium-scale scientific projects, featuring flexible plugin architecture, real-time data management, and exception handling.

Contribution

The paper presents Doberman, a versatile and adaptable slow control system that simplifies integration and operation for various scientific applications, including proprietary components.

Findings

Successfully deployed in astroparticle physics case studies

Supports real-time device control and data browsing

Automates alarm and exception handling

Abstract

We present an open source slow control system for small and medium scale projects. Thanks to its modular and flexible design, where the various instruments are read and controlled by independent plugins, Doberman (Detector OBsERving and Monitoring ApplicatioN) can be quickly adapted for many applications, also making use of existing code or proprietary components. The system uses a SQL database to store the data from the instruments and provides an online application to display and browse through the data. It allows the modification of device settings while the program is running and features a protocol to handle exceptions, including the automated distribution of alarm messages. We present two case studies from astroparticle physics, on which Doberman is successfully deployed: a low-background screening facility installed in a remote underground laboratory and a detector R&D platform using cryogenic liquid xenon.