"Without a vision, the people perish."
King Solomon - Proverbs
Introduction:
In an era of staffing caps and budget cuts it is essential that we become more efficient in using the resources available. In order to accomplish this and also keep up with the incredibly fast pace of technology, the engineering groups in the Controls Department have developed this strategic plan which we will use to guide us in our individual engineering decisions.
We recognize that one of the most satisfying aspects of engineering is exercising creativity in designs. We also recognize that a small efficient group cannot simultaneously support all possible platforms, processors, buses etc. Creativity can exist with guidelines! We will strive wherever practical to build on existing systems and software while moving ahead toward our vision of the future.
This document is a working attempt to formalize that vision as well as to develop a list of strategic priorities which must be addressed if we are to build momentum toward the future. The policies presented here are intended to help guide the work of each member of the Controls Department. A yearly review and update of this document will be done in conjunction with our WPAS report.
Where we are now:
Presently the Controls Department supports a variety of hardware architecture's including: Multibus I, Multibus II, VMEbus, VXIbus, and CAMAC. Our network technologies include Token Ring, Ethernet, ARCnet, GPIB and a very small amount of MIL-1553. This diversity places extraordinary requirements on us in terms of staffing.
We have a considerable investment in CAMAC that cannot be ignored. We will continue to support CAMAC for the foreseeable future. CAMAC is still a cost effective solution for many problems. Table I is a list of all of the presently supported CAMAC modules. Red modules will need some redesign due to obsolete parts before more modules can be constructed. Green modules will no longer be produced.
Tables II-V are lists of all the presently supported embedded systems and associated hardware.
More and more data collection is requested for study purposes as well as for operations of an increasingly complicated accelerator complex. The planned improvements to the accelerators at Fermilab will carry us into the next century. However, the majority of our data acquisition subsystems have their roots anchored in the technology of the 70's and early 80's. Many of our systems are already experiencing performance limitations in terms of processing and throughput capabilities.
Quite often we are asked on very short notice to interface to new systems or provide data acquisition and controls for new devices.
The hardware staff currently supports an installed equipment base of nearly 10,000 modules. We have a small number of people to maintain these systems. Some systems have only one expert for emergency call-in. With an average equipment age of 15+ years it should be no surprise to discover that maintenance activities now dominate our daily operations.
The funding level for our efforts has been shrinking rather than advancing. We are continually expected to do more with less.
Where we would like to be:
1. Upgrade-able Systems:
We would like to be in a position that will allow us to easily upgrade systems. We would like to be using standards that will ease the reuse of software and encourage the use of Object Oriented Software.
2. Data Throughput:
We want to be capable of delivering the amount of data required by studiers as well as normal operations in a timely, reliable manner.
3. System Maintenance:
We would like Controls people to spend less time maintaining equipment and diagnosing problems so more time is available for new designs and improvements.
4. Service to other Accelerator Departments:
The Controls Department would like to deliver systems that meet the requesters requirements and deadlines. We want to be able to accurately estimate whether we have the personnel to meet deadlines.
We want to be able to predict future demand for various modules and systems already supported by the department. We want to be able to respond quickly to requests for new systems.
How we will achieve our goals:
1. Upgrade-able Systems:
While developing new systems, we will work closely with the Microprocessor Group from the beginning of a project. In order to minimize the impact of software development licensing, etc., we will use the operating system(s) and processor boards supported by the Microprocessor Group. We will use commercial boards wherever practical.
We will institute and follow a review process for projects. The reviews shall emphasize modular hardware and software to facilitate upgrades. The attached review guidelines will be followed.
New systems will be either VMEbus, PLC or CAMAC depending on the scope of the project. No new Multibus II solutions will be built and in-house designs will be used only when standard solutions are not possible.
2. Data throughput:
We will identify the problem systems, work with users to find ways to reduce network traffic and upgrade systems as necessary. We will maintain a prioritized list of systems to be replaced as soon as funds are available, see attached list.
3. System Maintenance:
We would like to more effectively use our staff by dispatching technicians and operators to diagnose and solve problems first. Engineers will respond to problems that technicians have failed to solve. We want several people to be capable of diagnosing and repairing each of our systems.
To do this we will need to develop our staff. Each technician and staff member should have a clear understanding of the overall Control System and how data flows through the system. We will use the Monday morning coffee break to introduce different aspects of the controls system each week. These presentations will be summarized and added to the Controls Web site.
For large projects, we will design in teams so that more than one person is familiar with each system.
Each system will have a hardware manual which will include all the drawings, block diagrams, and hardware releases related to that system. An extra copy of these manuals will be available in the Linac Development Area bookcases.
All Controls Department spares will be in a central location within the responsible Engineering Group's area and clearly marked as to it's condition and the system in which it is to be used. For the convenience of the Operations group, one spare of each type of Camac module which is normally changed by operators during off hours will be kept in the cabinet located in the outer MCR.
The systems designers and reviewers will emphasize easy to understand systems with diagnostics ( leds, error logs, built-in tests, etc.).
4. Service to other Accelerator Departments:
We will institute a system for interfacing with other departments. This will include a form ( see appendix) for requesters to fill out information specifying their hardware requirements, software support requirements, a project deadline and budget. The request will be submitted to the Deputy Department Head who will assign appropriate personnel. The assigned personnel will ask for any additional input and then present a proposal for Controls Department Review. After the Departmental Review, a written proposal will be presented to the requester(s) who will have an opportunity to accept the proposal or explain why it doesn't meet the requirements. If minor changes need to be made, another Departmental Review would not be required.
The Deputy Department Head will poll the various Accelerator Division Departments regarding their plans for future installations. A current list of projects with assigned project leaders, review and completion dates, as well as budget information will be maintained by the Deputy Department Head and reviewed periodically by the Department Head and Group Leaders for planning purposes.
We will institute a database on the NT server that will allow us to monitor the inventory of various modules and equipment. This database will include the information from the other Departments regarding their future requirements, the present number of available hardware and the number of each in service.
How we will measure our progress:
1. Upgrade-able Systems:
Measuring our progress quantitatively on this goal will not be possible for several years. One way is to measure the personnel effort required to upgrade a particular system following our new guidelines and compare to the effort required for the next upgrade of that system.
2. Data Throughput:
Presently, we are asked for more and more data at faster and faster rates. If we are successful with this goal, our systems will be able to meet the specifications requirements which will now be automatically documented on the Engineering Request Form.
3. System Maintenance:
We will keep track of the amount of downtime charged to the Controls Department as well as the time spent by personnel in repairing equipment. Both of these should go down after some initial increase due to training and implementation of new systems.
4. Service to other Accelerator Departments:
If we provide better service to other departments, we will see an increase in the number of projects other departments ask us to do. Other departments will bring their work to us instead of hiring their own specialists for their department.
Controls Department Engineering Request Form
Requestor- Today's Date- Requestor's Dept- Phone- Budget Code- Completion Date- Budget allowance- Priority- Description of Request: (Include quantity and locations ) Specifications: ( Please include voltage ranges, numbers of channels, resolution, speed and noise requirements, etc.) For Controls Use: ERF# Implementor- Review Date- Completion Date-
TABLE I
MOD NO DESCRIPTION Maintainer #
052 QUAD UNIPOLAR DAC/PS CONTROLLER (12 BIT +P) MASON 61
053 QUAD BIPOLAR DAC/PS CONTROLLER (12 BIT) MASON 238
054 HEX UNIPOLAR DAC (16 BIT) MASON 31
055* VECTORED 16 BIT DIGITAL OUTPUT/DAC MASON 29
057 STEPPING MOTOR CONTROLLER FRANCK 75
064* OCTAL GATE GENERATOR MASON 31
066 BEAM/TIMING SYNC GENERATOR MASON
068* TCLK PROCESSOR FOR 070/071 MASON 5
069* MRRF TIMING PROCESSOR MASON
070 CURVE TIME GENERATOR (1K x 24) MASON 4
071 CURVE VALUE GENERATOR (1K x 24) MASON 17
072 HEX EVENT RECORDER DATA BUFFER (1.5K x 16) MASON
073 BLOCK TRANSFER CONTROLLER HENDRICKS
080 PIO INTERFACE MASON 194
082 TANK FARM INTERFACE MASON 2
112 PARALLEL PRINTER INTERFACE FRANCK 18
114 SERIAL PRINTER INTERFACE FRANCK 13
117 SWIC CONTROLLER (119 WITHOUT DAC) FRANCK 11
118 POWER SUPPLY CNTRLLR (16 BIT DAC, +5V STAT) FRANCK 60
119 POWER SUPPLY CNTRLLR (16 BIT DAC, -24V STAT) FRANCK 218
145* MAIN RING VACUUM READBACK INTERFACE SEINO 35
148 MAIN RING RACK MONITOR SEINO 0
153* QUAD BIPLR DAC/PS CNTRLR (12 BIT) - 2 STATE MASON
160* CORRECTION ELEMENT WAVEFORM GEN (12 BIT DAC) MCCLURE 301
161 CORRECTION ELEMENT RAW PS CONTROLLER MCCLURE 28
164* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CNTRLR (16 BIT DAC, FAST UD) FRANCK 60
165* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CONTROLLER (16 BIT DAC) FRANCK 120
166* MDAT TRANSMITTER MASON 26
169* MDAT RECEIVER MASON 95
170 CIA CRATE/VACUUM CONTROLLER LACKEY 60
172* TCLK TIME LINE GENERATOR FRANCK 2
175 TCLK HARDWARE ENCODER MCCLURE 31
176 TCLK TRANSMITTER MCCLURE 3
177* TCLK OCTAL TIMER FRANCK 95
178* TCLK REPEATER/DECODER McCLURE 109
179* PHASE REVERSAL GENERATOR FRANCK 2
180 MUXED DIGITAL I/O (12 C, 256 M) MASON 124
181 DIGITAL I/O (12 C, 16 M) MASON 103
182 DIGITAL OUTPUT (32 C - ACTIVE HIGH) MASON 114
* Denotes TCLK Input Provision. no more will be built, redesign before more can be built
TABLE I (cont)
183 DIGITAL OUTPUT (32 C - ACTIVE LOW) MASON 2
184 DIGITAL I/O (16 M, 16 C, 2 P) MASON 120
185 DIGITAL INPUT (32 M, 2 P) MASON 69
186 MUXED DIGITAL I/O (12 PC, 256 M) MASON 28
187 MULTIPLEXED DIGITAL 0UTPUT (256 C, 16 M) MASON
189 MR INTENSITY SAMPLE MASON
190* MADC CONTROLLER (12 or 14 BIT) FRANCK 210
191* QUAD CHANNEL FAST DIGITIZER (12 BIT) FRANCK 25
192* QUAD CHANNEL FAST DIGITIZER (WIRE SCANNER) FRANCK 13
193* EIGHT CHANNEL TRANSIENT RECORDER/DIGITIZER SEINO 33
200* ABORT CONCENTRATOR MASON 102
201* ABORT LINK GENERATOR MASON 6
220 COUNT TOTALIZER FRANCK 12
265* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CONTROLLER (16 BIT DAC) FRANCK 22
266* TIME AT 150 GeV GENERATOR MASON 2
269 MAIN RING POWER SUPPLY LINK RECEIVER MASON 28
270 MR BPM FLASH EVENT TIMING PROCESSOR MCCLURE
276 BEAM SYNC CLOCK TRANSMITTER MCCLURE 5
278 BEAM SYNC CLOCK REPEATER/DECODER McCLURE 10
279* BEAM SYNC CLOCK INTERFACE/TIMER (2 CHANNEL) MASON 86
280* BSCLK TRIGGER PROCESSOR MASON 2
281* BSCLK TRIGGER PROCESSOR MASON 2
282* BSCLK TRIGGER PROCESSOR MASON 2
283 BEAM SYNC 7.5 MHZ GAP DETECTOR MASON 2
284 DIGITAL I/O (16 M, 16 PULSED C) MASON 55
287* TCLK INTERFACE/TIMER (2 CHANNEL) MASON 14
288 OCTAL PULSE DELAY MASON
290 Updated 190 FRANCK 50
333* EIGHT CHANNEL 24 BIT BINARY SCALER MASON 8
334* SVX RAD SCALER (SHRT-MED-LONG INTERVAL) MASON
335/336*SVX RADIATION DOSE MONITOR MASON
365* DIGITAL FUNCTION GENERATOR WITH 16 BIT DAC FRANCK 42
372* DIGITAL FUNCTION GENERATOR ( FAST 32 BITS) MASON 2
377 TCLK OCTAL TIMER - IMPROVED 177 FRANCK 242
379 BEAM SYNC CLOCK OCTAL TIMER - IMPROVED 277 FRANCK 21
384 BIWER BOX INTERFACE MASON 2
453* QUAD WAVEFORM GENERATOR/PS CONTROLLER FRANCK 80
465* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CNTRLR - 16 BIT BP DAC FRANCK 245
466* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CNTRLR - 16 BIT UP DAC FRANCK 8
467* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CNTRLR - 16 BIT BP DIGITAL FRANCK 24
468* WAVEFORM GEN/PS CNTRLR - 16 BIT UP DIGITAL FRANCK 31
477* TCLK QUAD TIMER - SET ON EVENT CAPABILITY FRANCK 2
488* GPIB CONTROLLER SEINO 37
489* GPIB CONTROLLER (WITH MORE MEMORY) SEINO 35
491* QUAD BUNCH INTENSITY DIGITIZER FRANCK 0
500 LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING - TCLK DUPUIS 2
1553 MIL 1553B CONTROLLER SEINO 11
TSCC TEVATRON SERIAL CRATE CONTROLLERS MASON 313
Camac Crate Power Supplies and Fan Packs MASON 297
TABLE II
Controls Department Multibus I Systems and Cards
System Maintainer Number (excluding spares)
BPM - MR, TEV Lackey 61
BPM- Pbar,8 Gev Lackey 18
QPM (switchyard) Lackey 3
Baker McClure 1
Cards systems Maintainer
M080 (all multibus I)
68000uP QXR,QPM EE Support
PRO BPM Marquardt 80
8004 BPM Marquardt 80
clock BPM Marquardt 80
TBT BPM Marquardt 80
FAB BPM Marquardt 15
TEX BPM Marquardt 80
TABLE III
Controls Department Multibus II Systems and Cards
System Maintainer Number(excluding spares)
CAMAC front-end Marquardt 8
Frig Marquardt 9
Cards Systems Maintainer Number
386 sbx FE,Frig Marquardt 57
leds+switches FE,Frig Franck 57
PCAT FE,Frig Marquardt 17
Token Ring FE,Frig Marquardt 17
Memory FE,Frig Marquardt 17
TABLE IV
Controls Department VMEbus Systems and Cards
System Maintainer Number (excluding spares)
BPM-400 Mev, Booster Lackey 8
QPM- Low Beta Lackey 2
UCD Briegel 2
Rad Mon Anderson 1
GFSDA Briegel 1
IRM/VME Shea 104
SRM Shea 70
MI-Vacuum Franck 18
SWIC Franck 1
New QXR Seino 1
Cards Systems Maintainer Number
MVME133a SRMs Shea 63
Force 040 QPM, BPM (booster) Lackey 8
UCD Briegel 2
Consolidator Lublinsky 1
MVME147
MVME162 ACNETbox Briegel 2
MI-Vac Franck 18
IRM/VME Shea 41
SWIC Franck 1
Control QPM Lackey 2
Scaler QPM Lackey 6
GFC QPM Lackey 4
SSM (all VME) McClure 25
UCD (most VME) McClure 20
V177 Linac, McClure 32
TABLE V
Other Controls Department systems, modules and cards
System Module Maintainer Number
Frig Thermometry Franck 31
Frig FiFo Franck 40
Frig F2ADC Seino 80 (+32 spare)
Frig F2CPU Seino 40 (+14 spare)
Frig F2 Crate Seino 40 (+12 spare)
Frig Actuator Marquardt 650
Frig Engine Marquardt 160
Frig Digital I/O Marquardt 80
MADC MADC I Chassis Seino 116 ( + 3 spare)
MADC MADC II Chassis Seino 47 (+ 12 spare)
SEM Zuchnik 9
STEG Zuchnik 9
DRF tuning Zuchnik 1
CIA crates Zuchnik 45
CIA crate PS Zuchnik 45
CIA crate driver cards Zuchnik 45
Daughter Trigger Generators Zuchnik 8 (+2 spares)
RF Link Repeaters Mason 919
Fiber Optic Link Repeaters Mason 290
RF MIUs & P.S. Mason 39
CCIUs & P.S. Mason 4
CCIU expansion chassis Mason 1
MADCs (DSE) Mason 42
Digital Cross Connect Chassis Mason 39
RF timing Units Mason 3
TTL to 50 ohm Interfaces Mason 4
BSTR Curve Generator Crate (NIM) Mason 2
BSTR Curve Generator Modules (NIM) Mason 10
E48/F11 Damper Controls Mason 1
Beam Switch Sum Boxes Mason 2
Beam Switch Boxes at consoles Mason 10
TCLK/MDAT Fanout Chassis Mason 34
A. Which projects require a formal review? Projects that involve "considerable" hardware and/or software effort, time and/or money as determined at Group Leaders Meetings. B. Why do we need to have a formal review? The purpose of the review is to make sure that we don't waste time and money and that we are not surprised by some unknown requirements. Reviewers need to remember to be objective. There are usually several ways of doing things. If people have no freedom in designs, they are not designing. C. What exactly is a review? A review is a meeting with both systems people and controls people where constructive comments can be made. It occurs before building a prototype but after a lot of informal discussions and meetings have already taken place. If you know about the project and think you have important information, don't wait until the formal review to tell someone. This is the last chance to make a significant change before a prototype is built. The project leader's presentation at the review should follow this general outline: 1. Why is this project needed? What are the requirements? 2. What were the alternatives considered? 3. What is the solution proposed and why. 4. Cost in time and money needed for the project. 5. Schedule. The reviewers should try to limit their criticism to the following: 1. Does the design meet the requirements? 2. Do we have the resources to meet the deadlines? 3. Is there something that may have been overlooked that would impact this design? 4. Does the design impact other operational systems? Are there safety issues? 5. Is the implementation consistent with our Strategic Plan? C. Who reviews? Controls Group Leaders, Systems representatives, Operations representatives and occasionally Division representatives. Review will be set up by the Controls Department Head.Systems to be Replaced in Priority Order
High Level RF (Main Ring, Tev) Replace C190s that need more plot channels with C290s C160 replacement Timeline Generator GPIB ( Camac 488, 489) Vacuum (Camac 170, CIA crate interface and power supply) MDAT generator Main Injector BPMs Switchyard QPMs Tevatron QPMs Tevatron BPMs MTOS sytems upgraded to VxWorks ( Booster BPMs, Low Beta QPMs) Replace Camac Power Supplies Stochastic Cooling