DCS Communication Software for the TPC Frontend Electronics

DCS & Communication Software for the TPC Front-end Electronics Matthias Richter Sebastian Bablok Department of Physics and Technology, University of Bergen, Norway Benjamin Schockert Center for Technology Transfer and Telecommunications, University of Applied Sciences Worms, Germany TPC Front-end-electronics meeting, Cern, Nov 22, 2005 Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 1

Software architecture Supervisory Layer PVSS II Load configuration data from file OR database (FED - Client) Front-End Device Interface (FED) FED Server Control Layer Config. File Inter. Com. Layer Config. DB FEE Client Front-End Electronics Interface (FEE) Field Layer Fee. Server Cmd / ACK Channel Service Channel Internal Bus Systems Hardware Device Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin Hardware Device ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 Message Channel 2

Status of the components Component Status Comments FED API defined - prototyped Inter. Com. Layer mostly functional Data base API prototype FEE API fully functional implemented in Fee. Server core and Fee. Client module of Inter. Com. Layer Fee. Server core fully functional version 0. 7. 3 stable running Fee. Server-Control. Engine fully functional exports services for Temp, Voltages, and currents for each FEC; commands defined and implemented Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin final specifications of the FED API have been defined in Oct 05 - will be published soon; implementation in Fed. Server module of Inter. Com. Layer in progress communication with Fee. Server fully implemented, Data base access module and Fed. Server module prototyped discussion about database- and content structure ongoing ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 3

Configuration Data Encoding CE provides 2 alternative formats of Configuration Data: 1. Usage of CE Command Set to write to RCU memory § Each single operation corresponds to one DIM command § Low performance, but flexibility for development § But: multiple operations can also be stacked into one DIM transaction if desired 2. Message Buffer Format (data exchange interface between DCS board and RCU – previously presented, see talk TPC FEE meeting Jan 05) § allows to encode multiple operations into one command block even on the level of data exchange between DCS board and RCU 2 alternative ways of data archiving: 1. As BLOBs 2. Archiving of individual parameters and data preparation on-the-fly Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 4

Next steps I. II. IV. V. VI. Data base interface: Specifications discussed with the DCS group; implementation ongoing § File access as fall back solution available performance tests of data base access Fed. API implementation in progress PVSS – Inter. Com. Layer communication using the Fed. API Handling of States for RCU and FECs in the Fee. Server Control. Engine Optimization I. III. V. IV. VI. 2005 2006 2007 Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 5

Open issues ? Data base structure and structure of config data has to be defined ? Creation, Handling, Archiving ? communication: Control. Engine – Monitoring and Safety Module (MSM): data publishing fully functional but sophisticated error handling/notification scheme necessary ? mass tests and scaling of behaviour with 216 DCS board nodes connect to the Inter. Com. Layer Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 6

Documentation and Download http: //www. ift. uib. no/~kjeks/wiki General Overview Download (Source code packages, programs for the DCS board) CE command specification CE service specification Setup recipe FAQ Source code and documentation of Fee. Server core and Inter. Com. Layer: https: //www. ztt. fh-worms. de/download/alice anyway: drop an email to us if there is something mysterious with the software or you couldn't find what you want: Matthias. Richter@ift. uib. no, Sebastian. Bablok@ift. uib. no, Schockert@ztt. fh-worms. de Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 7

Components and APIs FEE ROOT Debug GUI (ROOT framework) PVSS FEE ROOT Client FED Client FEE Client connector FED Client FED API (DIM) FED Server U 2 F API FEE API Inter. Com Layer (DIM) FEE Client DB API USB Configuration Database FEE API RCU (Motherboard) CE-RCU API (DIM) FEE-CE API Matthias Richter, Sebastian Bablok, Benjamin Fee. Server CE DCS board ALICE TPC FEE meeting, CERN, Nov 05 8