Abstract
In HEP experiments, remote access to control systems is one of the fundamental pillars of efficient operations. At the same time, development of user interfaces with emphasis on usability can be one of the most labor-intensive software tasks to be undertaken in the life cycle of an experiment. While desirable, the development and maintenance of a large variety of interfaces (e.g., desktop control interface, web monitoring interface, development API...) is often simply not feasible, as far as manpower is concerned. We present a solution employed in the control software of the iFDAQ of the COMPASS experiment at CERN. Being a mix of a command-line and terminal tool, this interface can fulfill the roles of a dynamic monitoring interface, a control interface, and a scripting API simultaneously. Furthermore, it can easily be used as a remote access tool for operations experts, needing nearly no setup user-side and being compatible with smartphones. We also discuss the methodology and results of a concrete use case – automated run control for performance tests of the iFDAQ readout software.
Highlights
A new data acquisition system (DAQ) has been deployed at the COMPASS experiment [1] in 2014 [2] and used for data-taking during the period from 2015 to 2018
The system, referred to as the iFDAQ [3] is accompanied by a software framework [4, 5], which handles run control, configuration and monitoring (CCM), and readout, processing and data storage
A web interface was one of the proposed solutions, but was determined to be in conflict with the focus on manpower-efficient solutions, as this would require development of an iFDAQ API in a programming language better suited for web development, effectively doubling the common client core workload
Summary
A new data acquisition system (DAQ) has been deployed at the COMPASS experiment [1] in 2014 [2] and used for data-taking during the period from 2015 to 2018. The system, referred to as the iFDAQ [3] is accompanied by a software framework [4, 5], which handles run control, configuration and monitoring (CCM), and readout, processing and data storage. Several interfaces have been an integral part of the framework since its conception, most notably the run control GUI. During the period from 2015 to 2018, an API and a remote control interface were implemented, but have proven to be difficult to maintain, given the manpower limitations of the software development group. This gave rise to the need for a new approach to interfaces to the framework, that emphasizes manpower efficiency. This article describes the nature of the new interface architecture as well as the rationale behind the design decisions taken
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