GUI application for ATCA-based LLRF Carrier Board management

Abstract

The Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard describes an efficient and powerful platform, implementation of which was adopted to be used as a base for control systems in high energy physics. The ATCA platform is considered to be applied for the X-ray Free Electron Laser (X-FEL), being built at Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany. The Low Level Radio Frequency (LLRF) control system is composed of a few ATCA Carrier Boards. Carrier Board hosts Intelligent Platform Management Controller (IPMC), which is developed in compliance with the PICMG specifications. IPMC is responsible for management and monitoring of sub-modules installed on Carrier Boards and pluggable Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) modules. The ATCA Shelf Manager is the main control unit of a single ATCA crate, responsible for all power and fan modules and Carrier Boards installed in ATCA shelf. The device provides a system administrator with a set of control and diagnostic capabilities regarding the crate and its sub-modules. These capabilities offered by Shelf Management are available for operators and can be further processed by higher layer applications. This paper presents a software component, the purpose of which is to support the management and supervision processes of the ATCA crate and its sub-modules, including ATCA Carrier Board devices with AMC modules. The application allows to acquire detailed information regarding status and parameters of crucial devices (e.g. power supply voltages, temperatures, presence of reference clocks). The combination of information supplied from Shelf Manager with graphical environment and user interface of the application provides visual representation of selected system components and contributes towards efficient control and supervision activities over Carrier Board and entire ATCA-based platform.