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EPICS to TANGO Translator

EPICS to TANGO Translator. Rok Šabjan on behalf of Rok Štefanič rok.sabjan@cosylab.com rok.stefanic@cosylab.com. Presented at ICALEPCS, Knoxville, October 19 th 2007. Outline. Motivation Constraints Implementation Issues Tango/Tine translators Conclusion.

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EPICS to TANGO Translator

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  1. EPICS to TANGO Translator Rok Šabjan on behalf of Rok Štefanič rok.sabjan@cosylab.com rok.stefanic@cosylab.com Presented at ICALEPCS, Knoxville, October 19th 2007

  2. Outline • Motivation • Constraints • Implementation • Issues • Tango/Tine translators • Conclusion

  3. Cosylab 2007 Motivation: Supported in TANGO, we want it speak EPICS • Microdiffractometer MD2 developed by Maatel, France on license from EMBL • Existing device support in TANGO Control System • EPICS support required for EPICS customers • Generic EPICS Support needed • Should work with future changes in the TANGO Device Server with least changes and if possible, no coding • Should be running on a Windows machine

  4. Cosylab 2007 Building blocks of the solution • TANGO interface library • Communication handled through Asyn driver • Generic approach for command calls and attribute manipulation • Clearly defined format for command calls and attributes • Support for all major TANGO datatypes

  5. Cosylab 2007 Building blocks of the solution EPICS DB Asyn Driver Tango Client Library cygwin Windows PC CORBA/Ethernet TANGO Device Server MD2 Device

  6. Device support (or SNL code, another driver, or non-EPICS software) Interfaces (named; pure virtual functions) asynCommon (connect, report, …) asynOctet (write, read, setInputEos,…) Port (named object) Port driver addr=1 addr=0 device device Asyn Driver • Standard driver framework for EPICS IOCs • In principle in can be used with other control systems (uses libCom library only) • Name comes from the support for asynchronous devices (serial, GPIB), but now also supports synchronous register-based devices • Main benefits of use: • Defined interfaces and structure (easier code maintenance) • Lots of testing and debugging features already provided • If there is no other significant reason, I recommend it for new drivers Asyn architecture

  7. Cosylab 2007 Implementation (1/2) • Command and attribute naming convention • type • name • datatype example: @asyn($(PORT),$(ADDR))attr_ArchivePath_str @asyn($(PORT),$(ADDR))cmd_MoveDevices_arrayof_shtout object Command 1 Flatten PV 1 object Command 2 PV 2 . . PV 3 . . object Attribute 1 Determine datatype object Attribute 2

  8. Implementation (2/2) • All records are processed during initialization • TANGO device server is queried for required commands or attributes • The mapping is stored in a table inside the driver • If the command does not exit in the driver, an error message is displayed and the record’s requests are ignored • Future changes only require changes in the database (and screens) • Cygwin environment makes EPICS run on the same platform as the TANGO device server, making all one software package.

  9. Issues • Compound TANGO datatypes • In TANGO commands can take or return an argument in form of two dimensional arrays consisting out of pairs of string and long or double values • Solution was not found, problem noted • EPICS string length limitation • MD2 TANGO device server reports status as long strings • Only a minor problem

  10. TINE device server Communication and conversion Device discovery and registration CORBA/Ethernet TANGO Device Server Device Tango/Tine and Tine/Tango • Developed for EMBL Hamburg in August and September 2007 • Thanks to Phillip Duval from DESY for help on the TINE side

  11. Conclusions • Translators among control systems are a good way of integrating existing implementations • In most cases much better than implementing the whole thing again (cost/benefit) • Focus on the target and don’t reach for a perfect translator (80/20) rule • A perfect translator may be harder than re-doing the whole thing in another control system • Maintenance can be an issue • Change control is important • Need experts for both control systems

  12. Cosylab 2007 Thank You!

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