Information-Control Software for Handling Serial Devices in an EPICS Environment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a software system that standardizes control and troubleshooting of RS-232 serial devices in accelerator environments by integrating a generic protocol within the EPICS control framework.

Contribution

It presents an integrated, multi-lab developed software solution that provides a generic, modular approach to handling diverse serial devices in EPICS-based control systems.

Findings

Successfully integrated at Jefferson Lab with multiple labs' software

Enables uniform control and troubleshooting of serial devices

Improves flexibility and reduces complexity in device management

Abstract

Each accelerator control system has a variety of measurement devices. One of the most common types of instrument interfaces used for their control is a serial (RS-232) bus. It is inexpensive and adequate for relatively simple measurement and control devices such as switchers, amplifiers, voltmeters, and steppermotors. Since the RS-232 specification is very broad and does not require uniformity above the basic communication protocol level, one of the major problems associated with the use of RS-232 is that the command protocol for each device is unique. This makes it difficult to design generic drivers for RS-232 and also hampers efforts to design generic troubleshooting methods. This paper presents software developed independently at three other labs and integrated into a single system at Jefferson Lab to handle serial devices in a generic manner. The software is based on the EPICS toolkit and uses a 3-tier architecture including a common serial driver at the bottom, a top-level protocol to specify individual device commands in a generic manner, and a mid-level of software to "glue" the two together.