First Experiences Integrating PC Distributed I/O Into Argonne's ATLAS Control System

TL;DR

This paper discusses the integration of PC-based distributed I/O into the ATLAS control system at Argonne, highlighting initial experiences and system evolution for improved control capabilities.

Contribution

It presents the first practical experiences with incorporating PC distributed I/O into a large-scale accelerator control system using Vsystem.

Findings

Successful integration of PC I/O into ATLAS control system

Enhanced control system flexibility and cost-effectiveness

Initial operational insights and challenges encountered

Abstract

First Experiences Integrating PC Distributed I/O Into Argonne's ATLAS Control System The roots of ATLAS (Argonne Tandem-Linac Accelerator System) date back to the early 1960s. Located at the Argonne National Laboratory, the accelerator has been designated a National User Facility, which focuses primarily on heavy-ion nuclear physics. Like the accelerator it services, the control system has been in a constant state of evolution. The present real-time portion of the control system is based on the commercial product Vsystem [1]. While Vsystem has always been capable of distributed I/O processing, the latest offering of this product provides for the use of relatively inexpensive PC hardware and software. This paper reviews the status of the ATLAS control system, and describes first experiences with PC distributed I/O.