Development of an Extensible Unified Control System Using the STARS Framework and Common Commands for Detector Control

TL;DR

This paper presents a modular, extensible control system for detector and optical component management at a beamline, utilizing the STARS framework and new common commands for improved flexibility and interoperability.

Contribution

The development of a unified, extensible control architecture using the STARS framework with novel common commands for detector control is introduced.

Findings

System successfully commissioned at KEK beamline

Enhanced configurational flexibility achieved

Demonstrated interoperability among detector systems

Abstract

Two Fresnel zone plates zooming optics have been successfully developed and installed at the AR-NE1A beamline of the Photon Factory at the high energy accelerator research organization (KEK) in Japan. To ensure the reliable and versatile operation of this optical instrumentation, a dedicated control architecture has been implemented based on the simple transmission and retrieval system (STARS) framework, incorporating the newly proposed STARS common commands for detector control (CCDC) -- a detector-specific data acquisition (DAQ) state and command system. This system serves as both a practical control system for zooming optics and a demonstration model for modular extensibility using the STARS framework and inter-operability among detector systems enabled by the CCDC command set. The system has been commissioned, and its performance has been verified at the AR NE1A beamline. The control architecture affords enhanced configurational flexibility for optical components and provides an interface appropriate for both routine users and advanced experimental protocols.