Control Software Framework Research Articles

Research and deployment of a Python-based software framework for large-scale physical experiment control

This paper presents a python-based, open-source framework for slow control systems used in particle physics experiments. The framework includes several functions such as display, data query, alarm, log and remote monitoring, etc. The data communication utilizes the MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) protocol, ensuring real-time and reliable data transmission. The object-oriented programming approach ensures each functional module's independence and reusability, making them easily interchangeable and extendable through configuration files in various applications. Finally, two case deployment applications of the framework are provided, where both of them are tested with Docker.

An open-source software framework for reinforcement learning-based control of tracked robots in simulated indoor environments

A simulation framework based on the open-source robotic software Gazebo and the Robot Operating System is presented for articulated tracked robots, designed for reinforcement-learning-based (RL) control skill acquisition. In particular, it is destined to serve as a research tool in the development and evaluation of methods in the domain of mobility learning for articulated tracked robots, in 3D indoor environments. Its architecture allows to interchange between different RL libraries and algorithm implementations, while learning can be customized to endow specific properties within a control skill. To demonstrate its utility, we focus on the most demanding case of staircase ascent and descent using depth image data, while respecting safety via reward function shaping and incremental, domain randomization-based, end-to-end learning.

A Control Software Framework for Wearable Mechatronic Devices

The rapid growth of wearable mechatronic devices for motion assistance applications has created a demand for tools that assist with control software development. The wearable mechatronics-enabled control software (WearMECS) framework is proposed as a software development tool for the control systems of these devices. The WearMECS framework was developed to support both software design and implementation. Control software has been developed using the framework that supports various motion tasks, control system models, and wearable mechatronic devices. In this research, the control systems developed with the framework have resulted in some of the lowest elbow motion tracking errors in the literature. The framework has also helped to increase the efficiency of experimental evaluations and the comparison of control components. The versatility of the WearMECS framework provides control system developers with a foundation to build upon, while maintaining their creative freedom. This framework provides a platform that supports the continued growth and improvement of control systems for wearable assistive devices.

A mixed real-time robot hardware abstraction layer (R-HAL)

The rapid advances in robotics have recently led to the developments of a wide range of robotic platforms that exhibit significant differences at the hardware components level. Consequently, this poses a significant challenge to robot software developers since they have to know how every hardware device in the robot works to ensure their software’s compatibility when transferring/reusing their code on different robots. In this paper we present a new Robot Hardware Abstraction Layer (R-HAL) that permits to seamlessly program and control any robotic platform powered by the XBot control software framework. The implementation details of the R-HAL are introduced. The R-HAL is extensively validated through simulation trials and experiments with a wide range of dissimilar robotic platforms, among them the COMAN and WALK-MAN humanoids, the KUKA LWR and the CENTAURO upper body. The results attained demonstrate in practice the gained benefits in terms of code compatibility, reuse and portability, and finally unified application programming even for robots with significantly diverse hardware.

The upgrade of the H.E.S.S. cameras

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) is an array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) located in the Khomas highland in Namibia. It was built to detect Very High Energy (VHE >100GeV) cosmic gamma rays. Since 2003, HESS has discovered the majority of the known astrophysical VHE gamma-ray sources, opening a new observational window on the extreme non-thermal processes at work in our universe. HESS consists of four 12-m diameter Cherenkov telescopes (CT1–4), which started data taking in 2002, and a larger 28-m telescope (CT5), built in 2012, which lowers the energy threshold of the array to 30GeV. The cameras of CT1–4 are currently undergoing an extensive upgrade, with the goals of reducing their failure rate, reducing their readout dead time and improving the overall performance of the array. The entire camera electronics has been renewed from ground-up, as well as the power, ventilation and pneumatics systems, and the control and data acquisition software. Only the PMTs and their HV supplies have been kept from the original cameras. Novel technical solutions have been introduced, which will find their way into some of the Cherenkov cameras foreseen for the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. In particular, the camera readout system is the first large-scale system based on the analog memory chip NECTAr, which was designed for CTA cameras. The camera control subsystems and the control software framework also pursue an innovative design, exploiting cutting-edge hardware and software solutions which excel in performance, robustness and flexibility. The CT1 camera has been upgraded in July 2015 and is currently taking data; CT2-4 have been upgraded in fall 2016. Together they will assure continuous operation of HESS at its full sensitivity until and possibly beyond the advent of CTA. This contribution describes the design, the testing and the in-lab and on-site performance of all components of the newly upgraded HESS camera.

A Major Upgrade of the H.E.S.S. Cherenkov Cameras

The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is an array of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) located in Namibia. It was built to detect Very High Energy (VHE, >100 GeV) cosmic gamma rays, and consists of four 12 m diameter Cherenkov telescopes (CT1-4), built in 2003, and a larger 28 m telescope (CT5), built in 2012. The larger mirror surface of CT5 permits to lower the energy threshold of the array down to 30 GeV. The cameras of CT1-4 are currently undergoing an extensive upgrade, with the goals of reducing their failure rate, reducing their readout dead time and improving the overall performance of the array. The entire camera electronics has been renewed from ground-up, as well as the power, ventilation and pneumatics systems, and the control and data acquisition software. Technical solutions forseen for the next-generation Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory have been introduced, most notably the readout is based on the NECTAr analog memory chip. The camera control subsystems and the control software framework also pursue an innovative design, increasing the camera performance, robustness and flexibility. The CT1 camera has been upgraded in July 2015 and is currently taking data; CT2-4 will upgraded in Fall 2016. Together they will assure continuous operation of H.E.S.S at its full sensitivity until and possibly beyond the advent of CTA. This contribution describes the design, the testing and the in-lab and on-site performance of all components of the newly upgraded H.E.S.S. camera.

An autonomous observation and control system based on EPICS and RTS2 for Antarctic telescopes

For an unattended telescopes in Antarctic, the remote operation, autonomous observation and control are essential. An EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) and RTS2(Remote Telescope System, 2nd Version) based autonomous observation and control system with remoted operation is introduced in this paper. EPICS is a set of Open Source software tools, libraries and applications developed collaboratively and used worldwide to create distributed soft real-time control systems for scientific instruments while RTS2 is an open source environment for control of a fully autonomous observatory. Using the advantage of EPICS and RTS2 respectively, a combined integrated software framework for autonomous observation and control is established that use RTS2 to fulfill the function of astronomical observation and use EPICS to fulfill the device control of telescope. A command and status interface for EPICS and RTS2 is designed to make the EPICS IOC (Input/Output Controller) components integrate to RTS2 directly. For the specification and requirement of control system of telescope in Antarctic, core components named Executor and Auto-focus for autonomous observation is designed and implemented with remote operation user interface based on Browser-Server mode. The whole system including the telescope is tested in Lijiang Observatory in Yunnan Province for practical observation to complete the autonomous observation and control, including telescope control, camera control, dome control, weather information acquisition with the local and remote operation.

From Autonomy to Cooperative Traded Control of Humanoid Manipulation Tasks with Unreliable Communication

In this paper, we present our system design, operational procedure, testing process, field results, and lessons learned for the valve-turning task of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). We present a software framework for cooperative traded control that enables a team of operators to control a remote humanoid robot over an unreliable communication link. Our system, composed of software modules running on-board the robot and on a remote workstation, allows the operators to specify the manipulation task in a straightforward manner. In addition, we have defined an operational procedure for the operators to manage the teleoperation task, designed to improve situation awareness and expedite task completion. Our testing process, consisting of hands-on intensive testing, remote testing, and remote practice runs , demonstrates that our framework is able to perform reliably and is resilient to unreliable network conditions. We analyze our approach, field tests, and experience at the DRC Trials and discuss lessons learned which may be useful for others when designing similar systems.

A general observatory control software framework design for existing small and mid-size telescopes

A general framework for observatory control software would help to improve the efficiency of observation and operation of telescopes, and would also be advantageous for remote and joint observations. We describe a general framework for observatory control software, which considers principles of flexibility and inheritance to meet the expectations from observers and technical personnel. This framework includes observation scheduling, device control and data storage. The design is based on a finite state machine that controls the whole process.

The control system of the multi-strip ionization chamber for the HIMM

Heavy Ion Medical Machine (HIMM) is a carbon ion cancer treatment facility which is being built by the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) in China. In this facility, transverse profile and intensity of the beam at the treatment terminals will be measured by the multi-strip ionization chamber. In order to fulfill the requirement of the beam position feedback to accomplish the beam automatic commissioning, less than 1ms reaction time of the Data Acquisition (DAQ) of this detector must be achieved. Therefore, the control system and software framework for DAQ have been redesigned and developed with National Instruments Compact Reconfigurable Input/Output (CompactRIO) instead of PXI 6133. The software is Labview-based and developed following the producer–consumer pattern with message mechanism and queue technology. The newly designed control system has been tested with carbon beam at the Heavy Ion Research Facility at Lanzhou-Cooler Storage Ring (HIRFL-CSR) and it has provided one single beam profile measurement in less than 1ms with 1mm beam position resolution. The fast reaction time and high precision data processing during the beam test have verified the usability and maintainability of the software framework. Furthermore, such software architecture is easy-fitting to applications with different detectors such as wire scanner detector.

Control Software Framework ECSF for Experiment Based on CORBA and Agent

The control system for Inertia Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiment facility is based on a scalable software framework and can implement centralized control of thousands of devices and roboticized experiment processes. Experiment Control Software Framework (ECSF) is the control software framework specially for large-scale experiment facility, colligating advantages of CORBA and Agent. By the reuse at the system level, control software can be fleetly constructed. Software device Agent based on OOD is the base of framework. Centralized manager and common module implement events, alerts, reservations, logging, data archive, flow and arithmetic management. Several connection managements are also provided for the member of the framework. Taking patch energy subsystem as an example, the instantiation of the framework is introduced to validate the feasibility and validity of ECSF.

The open real-time control (RTC)-Tools software framework for modeling RTC in water resources sytems

Real-time control-Tools is a novel software framework for modeling real-time control and decision support in water resources systems. It integrates different control paradigms ranging from simple feedback control strategies with triggers, operating rules and controllers to advanced optimization-based approaches such as model predictive control (MPC). A key feature of the package is the modular integration of modeling components, related adjoint models, and optimization algorithms which makes it well suited for the control of large-scale water systems. Interfaces enable its integration into Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems, operational stream flow forecasting, and decision support systems as well as hydraulic modeling packages. This paper presents an overview of the novel software framework, gives an introduction into the underlying control theory for which it has been developed and discusses the related software architecture. A first case describes an innovative combination of binary decision trees and feedback control in application to the modeling of a highly regulated River Rhine reach along the German–French border. Two additional cases present the efficient application of MPC to the short-term management of two large-scale water systems in the Netherlands and the USA.

Preparing HEP software for concurrency

The necessity for thread-safe experiment software has recently become very evident, largely driven by the evolution of CPU architectures towards exploiting increasing levels of parallelism. For high-energy physics this represents a real paradigm shift, as concurrent programming was previously only limited to special, well-defined domains like control software or software framework internals. This paradigm shift, however, falls into the middle of the successful LHC programme and many million lines of code have already been written without the need for parallel execution in mind. In this paper we have a closer look at the offline processing applications of the LHC experiments and their readiness for the many-core era. We review how previous design choices impact the move to concurrent programming. We present our findings on transforming parts of the LHC experiment reconstruction software to thread-safe code, and the main design patterns that have emerged during the process. A plethora of parallel-programming patterns are well known outside the HEP community, but only a few have turned out to be straightforward enough to be suited for non-expert physics programmers. Finally, we propose a potential strategy for the migration of existing HEP experiment software to the many-core era.

Network vulnerability analysis of the Player command and control protocol

This paper demonstrates command and control protocols for remotely–piloted vehicles can be susceptible to cyber attacks and provides recommendations to mitigate these attacks while minimising impact to resource–constrained platforms. The Player project is an open–source effort providing a control interface specification and software framework for abstracting robot hardware. This research presents five exploits that compromise vulnerabilities in Player's command and control protocol. This work also demonstrates that Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is capable of mitigating the vulnerabilities discovered in Player's command and control protocol. A cost function is defined to synthesise exploit success, CPU utilisation, and network load into a single scalar metric that can be used to compare the different IPsec protocols. Results show that in a scenario when exploits are likely, IPsec AH+ESP is the preferred defense protocol because of its relatively low CPU and network overhead and ability to defeat the exploits implemented in this research.

Advanced control software framework for process control applications

AbstractIndustries are now moving towards PC-based control from PLC (Programmable Logic Control) based control as the PC (personal computer) is easily available and capable of implementing various control strategies to improve productivity. Advances in both hardware and software technology are expediting this move. Absence of a user friendly, cost effective and easy to apply advanced control strategy based software is the motivation for this work. In this paper we reviewed issues of software application in process control systems. We present the development of an advance process control software tool and its application on a pH neutralization plant. Neural network model based DIC (Direct Inverse Control) strategy is implemented to control the process. The application and results shows the viability and robustness of the advanced control software and its superiority over the conventional PID (proportional–integral–derivative) controller.

TU-C-BRB-05: Development of a Software Framework for Quality Control and Optimization of a Paperless Radiation Therapy Process

Purpose: To implement a software framework for quality control and optimization of a paperless radiation therapy process. Methods: After analyzing the radiation therapy process as implemented using a conventional paper chart, we re‐implemented it in a paperless environment using workflow mechanisms available in Radiation OncologyInformation System (ARIA, Varian Medical Systems), such as on‐line Appointments, Tasks, Dynamic Word Documents, and Checklists. In order to ensure that the software‐based procedure steps of the paperless process were being adhered to, we have developed a collection of software modules which queries the SQL‐compliant database that underlies ARIA, analyses the results, and alerts users, mainly via emails, of the existence of any procedures or documentation they may not have completed.Results: All treatment plans for our conventional accelerators are now developed in a paperless environment. Currently, there are a total of 10 software modules, written in perl and SQL and comprising around 17,000 lines of code, reporting on specific aspects of the paperless process, such as treatment consent presence, prescription approval, target volume approval, plan approval, pre‐treatment check execution and others. The use of softwarecontrol modules, which execute daily, weekly or monthly, has resulted in a several‐fold decrease in the number of process errors. The email alerts from the reporting software have become an essential part of the workflow environment in the department. These have contributed to the general acceptance of the paperless process, despite the added computer‐based effort it involves. Conclusions: A paperless radiation therapy process opens up the possibility for automated monitoring and control of workflow steps essential for maintaining and improving patient safety. We have demonstrated that the implementation of software tools to perform this function results in significant, quantifiable process improvement.

Belle-DIRAC Setup for Using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud

The Distributed Infrastructure with Remote Agent Control (DIRAC) software framework allows a user community to manage computing activities in a distributed environment. DIRAC has been developed within the Large Hadron Collider Beauty (LHCb) collaboration. After successful usage over several years, it is the final solution adopted by the experiment. The Belle experiment at the Japanese High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) has the purpose of studying matter/anti-matter asymmetries using B mesons. During its lifetime, Belle detector has collected about 5,000 terabytes of real and simulated data. The analysis of this data requires an enormous amount of computing intensive Monte Carlo simulation. The Belle II experiment, which recently published its technical design report, will produce 50 times more data. Therefore it is interested to determine if commercial computing clouds can reduce the total cost of the experiment's computing solution. This paper describes the setup prepared to evaluate the performance and cost of this approach using real 2010 simulation tasks of the Belle experiment. The setup has been developed using DIRAC as the overall management tool to control both the tasks to be executed and the deployment of virtual machines using the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud as service provider. At the same time, DIRAC is also used to monitor the execution, collect the necessary statistical data, and finally upload the results of the simulation to Belle resources on the Grid. The results of a first test using over 2000 days of cpu time show that over 90% efficiency in the use of the resources can easily be achieved.

A software framework for model predictive control with GenOpt

There is a growing interest in integrated control strategies for building systems with numerous responsive elements, such as solar shading devices, thermal storage and hybrid ventilation systems, both for energy efficiency and for demand response. Model predictive control is a promising way of approaching this challenge. This paper presents a flexible software framework for model predictive control using GenOpt, along with a modified genetic algorithm developed for use within it, and applies it to a case study of demand response by zone temperature ramping in an office space. Various areas for further research and development using this framework are discussed.

Applying a software framework for supervisory control of a PLC-based flexible manufacturing systems

In this paper, a software framework for a distributed flexible manufacturing system is presented where, as a main design goal, we consider that the functionalities are offered to other components with no effects on the robustness of the system and where security specifications are tackled without the flexibility losses. In this way, the use of the supervisory control theory (SCT) is considered. Also, a methodology that makes it easier to implement these functionalities at a PLC-based system is presented. A real application of the developed framework is presented, and the implementation is done over an industrial-size device, so the technical feasibility of the methodology is proved. As the framework considers the services offered by the device, it can be used at different manufacturing tasks, so the approach can be applied to any kind of industrial process unit.

Architecture and Mechanism Design for Real-Time and Fault-Tolerant Etherware for Networked Control

We believe that a standard control software framework which enables rapid, reliable and evolvable application development is the key for the proliferation of the networked control systems. Accordingly, we have been working on developing a domainware for general purpose control system, called Etherware. Even though Etherware supports many of the distributed system domain requirements, it still needs further advances to be more suitable as a middleware for control systems. In this paper, we present an architecture and mechanisms for an enhanced middleware that supports networked control system design through enabling temporally correct interactions. We also propose an architecture and mechanisms for enhancing the robustness of networked control systems to faults, that we are currently implementing.