FLUTE (Ferninfrarot Linac- und Test-Experiment) is a compact linac-based test facility for accelerator R&D and source of intense THz radiation for photon science. In preparation for the next experiments, the electron beam of the injector section of FLUTE has been characterized. In systematic studies the electron beam parameters, e.g., beam energy and emittance, are measured with several diagnostic systems. This knowledge allows the establishment of different operation settings and the optimization of electron beam parameters for future experiments.

Present GSI control system uses an in-house developed CORBA based middleware called IFC. For FAIR project that will be built on the GSI site, a new control system is foreseen. New devices that are being integrated into the control system will be developed in CERN's Front End Software Architecture (FESA). In this article, an IFC to FESA gateway will be presented. The gateway provides an intermediate layer that is able to talk to FESA device servers on one side and provide their functionality to existing IFC clients. The gateway will allow coexistence of FESA front-end implementations and existing GSI device servers and clients, providing a smooth transition path to the future FAIR front-end environment. New GSI and FAIR devices that will be implemented in FESA will have to match GSI standards for nomenclature and device modelling. Exact match of new devices is not possible due to different hardware and software architecture of the new system, therefore a gateway solution is required. The gateway can translate the complete device model, including conversion from FESA to IFC data types. INTRODUCTION The Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) will be built on the GSI site. The present GSI UNILAC and SIS18 accelerator ring will be used as a injector for new accelerator installation. FAIR facility will be operated in a multiplexed mode, meaning that multiple experiments will be supplied with several different ion types simultaneously in a similar way as in the old GSI accelerator. The existing control system at GSI is well adapted for the present needs, but due to technological requirements a new control system will be used for FAIR. For front end part of the control system CERN's FESA was chosen [1]. For the transition period, when new devices are implemented in FESA but old GSI installation and many clients in control room will still use IFC, an intermediate layer of software will be required which will act as a glue between new FESA device servers and old IFC clients and device servers as shown on figure 1. Figure 1: Coexistence of IFC clients and device servers and FESA device servers.

The control system at ANKA, the 2.5 GeV synchrotron light source in Karlsruhe, has been designed and built with CORBA distributed remote objects. The whole control system was divided in three major layers: device drivers and fieldbus, CORBA device servers and finally Java GUI libraries. In the year 2002 the layer with device servers was successfully replaced with ACS version 1.1 ( ANKA Advanced Control System, ICALEPCS’03 ). The smooth transition proved that the design of ANKA’s control system with object-oriented architecture was well chosen. The ACS is CORBA based middleware developed in cooperation with ESO. The ACS framework is build on top of CORBA which hides the complexity of the CORBA middleware and other libraries. In addition ACS provides an implementation of a coherent set of design patterns and services that makes the whole control system software uniform and maintainable. ANKA was one of the first real-life installation of ACS. Since then ACS has experienced a fast and substantial evolution, which was driven by the requirements coming from users. In the year 2005 ANKA has decided to upgrade their ACS 1.1 installation to the latest stable ACS release. With this transition ANKA will benefit from the improved performance and stability and also the integration of new hardware into ANKA control system will be easier. Since ACS version 1.1 it has been introduced a new DevIO abstract interface which simplifies writing device drivers and servers. The upgrade work is in progress.

A Java programming infrastructure for high level applications has been developed and is being used for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The framework provides a hierarchal view of the accelerator and hides much of the underlying control system details. The hierarchy is database configured, facilitating application sharing across different beamlines, shielding the programmer from detailed knowledge of signal names, and allowing wholesale updating of applications. An important aspect of the framework is an online model, which can be run for design values, live machine values or user selected tuning values.

A Java programming infrastructure for high level applications has been developed and is being used for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). The framework provides a hierarchal view of the accelerator and hides much of the underlying control system details. The hierarchy is database configured, facilitating application sharing across different beamlines, shielding the programmer from detailed knowledge of signal names, and allowing wholesale updating of applications. An important aspect of the framework is an online model, which can be run for design values, live machine values or user selected tuning values.

Databush, a collection of Java classes and utilities for machine physics, serves well at the synchrotron light source ANKA. Machine physics applications with a visu- ally appealing user interface can be written with Databush quickly and efficiently and thanks to Java they are cross- platform. Modular architecture and use of Abeans, a com- munication and application Java framework, has extended the usability of Databush even across different control sys- tems. With improvements and upgrade to latest Abeans R3 libraries the Databush applications have been tested on EPICS based control system at SNS. Additional applica- tions for specific needs of the SNS have been written in short time. Lattice data was obtained through the XAL Java library of SNS. Databush applications have kept ro- bust and appealing user interface, which was polished up at ANKA in order to be used by operators without back- ground in physics. We plan to use the same applications also for the upcoming SESAME light source.

The entire CORBA communication layer at the syn- chrotron light source ANKA was efficiently upgraded to the next generation device servers, based on Advanced Control System (ACS). The old system, which was running since 2000, required an upgrade to a new version of com- mercial CORBA libraries. Instead of purchasing a costly li- cense, a decision was made to upgrade to open source TAO CORBA and ACS. The design of ACS is the next step in the evolution of the idea, which lays behind the old ANKA CS, a vision of a control system with distributed CORBA ob- jects for remotely controllable physical devices. The ACS, developed in cooperation with ESO, extended the old de- vice servers with improved management and debugging ca- pabilities and greatly improved the long time stability of servers on Windows NT machines. Adjustment to the new server interface was smooth and without major changes at the fieldbus and client side of the CS. This was possible due to modular object-oriented architecture at all control sys- tem layers and good design of interfaces for devices. The code of complex Java clients stayed practically the same, we only had to change the communication plug of Abeans, our core Java libraries. This has significantly reduced the upgrade time because all end-user Java applications re- mained visually and functionally unchanged. This is also of great value to the operators because no additional train- ing was required. Interfaces to LonWorks device drivers, which are based on functionality of devices, also remained unchanged. In a system with a large number of various de- vices we were able to keep the whole LonWorks fieldbus intact, we even used the same configuration database with the same set of installed drivers. The smoothness of the upgrade confirms that our developments were focused into the right direction. Now even those users are 100% satis- fied with the control system, who always had something to complain about.

Databush, a collection of Java classes and utilities for machine physics, serves well at the synchrotron light source ANKA. Machine physics applications with a visually appealing user interface can be written with Databush quickly and efficiently and thanks to Java they are crossplatform. Modular architecture and use of Abeans, a communication and application Java framework, has extended the usability of Databush even across different control systems. With improvements and upgrade to latest Abeans R3 libraries the Databush applications have been tested on EPICS based control system at SNS. Additional applications for specific needs of the SNS have been written in short time. Lattice data was obtained through the XAL Java library of SNS. Databush applications have kept robust and appealing user interface, which was polished up at ANKA in order to be used by operators without background in physics. We plan to use the same applications also for the upcoming SESAME light source.

The ACS is a CORBA-based control system framework with all features expected from a modern control system. It has been recently installed at the ANKA light source in Karlsruhe, Germany and is being used to develop the ALMA control system. ALMA is a joint project between astronomical organisations in Europe, USA and Japan and will consist of 64 12-meter sub-millimetre radio telescopes. ACS provides a powerful XML-based configuration database, synchronous and asynchronous communication, configurable monitors and alarms that automatically reconnect after a server crash, run-time name/location resolution, archiving, error system and logging system. Furthermore, ACS has built-in management, which allows centralized control over processes with commands such as start/stop/reload, send message, disconnect client, etc. and is fine-grained to the level of single devices. ACS comes with all necessary generic GUI applications and tools for management, display of logs and alarms and a generic object explorer, which discovers all CORBA objects, their attributes and commands at run-time and allows the user to invoke any command. A Visual configuration database editor is under development. An XML/XSLT generator creates an Abeans plug for each controlled object, giving access to all Abeans applications such as snapshot, table, GUI panels, and allowing one to use the CosyBeans GUI components for creating Java applications. For those that write their own control system, ACS allows to define own types of controlled data and own models of communication, yet use powerful support libraries as long as one adheres to some rules in the form of programming patterns. ACS users several standard CORBA services such as notification service, naming service, interface repository and implementation repository. ACS hides all details of the underlying mechanisms, which use many complex features of CORBA, queuing, asynchronous communication, thread pooling, life-cycle management, etc. Written in C++ and using the free ORB TAO, which is based on the operating system abstraction platform ACE, ACS has been ported to Windows, Linux, Solaris and VxWorks. The applications are written in Java and run on any JVM -enabled platform. ACS is based on the experience accumulated with similar projects in the astronomical and particle accelerator communities, reusing and extending concepts and components of implementation. Although designed for ALMA, ACS has the potential for being reused in other new control systems, as proven by the nearly seamless installation at the ANKA this spring.

At least as much time is spent solving problems addressed by application support as with actual interaction with the control system, if it is not factored into separate libraries but is coded by each programmer time and time again. Our Java libraries, called Abeans, address these issues in a communication platform independent way. Abeans perform connection management, error and timeout handling, logging, reporting, authentication, resource initialization and destruction, policy and configuration management, etc. Abeans also hide the communication details from the programmer and combine with CosyBeans, our GUI Java components, to form SCADA-like control panels. They are successfully used in such different environments such as a synchrotron light source (ANKA, Germany), an e-p collider complex (DESY, Germany), proton cyclotron (Riken, Japan) and a radio telescope (ESO, Germany). The Java library DataBush has a similar function for machine physics programs. The object oriented design of the library gives programmer intuitive access to devices and elements relevant to machine physics. For example, a non-visual Java Bean represents a magnet with its relevant machine physics parameters. Access to the control system is provided transparently with Abeans in communication platform independent way. Error diagnostics and event handling is part of the Abeans and DataBush framework. By default DataBush receives new data and performs linear optics calculation of machine functions with a one second heartbeat.

The device access layer of the control system of the light source ANKA is almost completely based on LonWorks. We have developed and produced custom I/O boards that use the LonWorks micro-controller (the Neuron). The hardware comprises a high-precision 16-bit DAC/ADC/function generator board, a 40 channel digital I/O+counter board and a serial interface. The device logic has been programmed already at the Neuron level, such that for example power supplies that are controlled either through a DAC/ADC board or through a serial interface look the same on the fieldbus network. The features include state machine, remote command invocation and event driven communication with monitors and alarms. The nodes are automatically configured at start-up time from a PC-resident, version-controlled database for which an ftp-like protocol has been developed. Other tools, which allow for a generic control implementation, are a network node installation and configuration tool, a node inspection and management tool and a template compiler, which allows us to use the same database data on the PC and on the Neuron.

We have built a control system framework that uses and extends modern component-based, distributed computing and object-oriented concepts. The basic entities of the system are devices that are represented as CORBA objects. Each device is further composed of property objects that correspond to what is called channels in EPICS. Properties support get/set commands, event-driven monitors and alarms, asynchronous and synchronous communication, logging, access to the database, etc. As all devices and their properties have common functionality, the servers for those CORBA objects are generated with a wizard-like program generator. Another generator creates one Java Bean component for each CORBA object. The client applications, written in Java, are then composed of those accelerator in any commercial development tool, often using visual and graphical programming. The Beans are essentially components wrapped around CORBA, because standard CORBA components do not exist as yet. However, they are more powerful as they contain a pluggable interface that connects to any communication framework apart from CORBA, such as CDEV or even a generic simulation of devices and properties. The plugs are determined and switched at run-time. Generic applications that cover all basic needs including machine physics applications have been made using CORBA dynamic invocation and Java reflection. The functionality of the system is rounded up by a series of tools based on a remote management framework, which is composed of security/authorization mechanisms, object and process management, configuration database versioning and rollback, control event logging, and similar.

FLUTE (Ferninfrarot LinacUnd Test-Experiment) is a compact versatile linear accelerator at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). It serves as a platform for a variety of accelerator studies as well as a source of strong ultrashort THz pulses for photon science [1]. In the commissioning phase of the 7 MeV low energy section the electron bunches are used to test the different diagnostics systems installed in this section. An example is the split-ring-resonatorexperiment [2]. In this contribution we report on the commissioning status of the beam diagnostics and present first beam measurements at FLUTE.

The first phase of FLUTE, a new linac based test facility and THz source, is currently being commissioned at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). It consist of an RF photo gun and a traveling wave linac accelerating electrons to beam energies of 40 to 50 MeV. The control system is based on a virtualized infrastructure running Ubuntu Linux and Linux KVM. As base for the SCADA system we use EPICS 3.15 with Control System Studio (CSS) for the GUI. The long term data storage is provided by a Cassandra NoSQL database. This contribution will present the architecture and the current status of the FLUTE control system.

Abeans is the next generation of Cosylab's Java based client framework for building control system applications. It has been ported, plugged to such different CS as those of DESY (TINE), SNS (EPICS) and GSI. At the moment we are working on the installations for ALMA project by ESO and for Data Acquisition group at JLab. Abeans consists of two parts, Abeans for control and CosyBeans. Abeans for control provide application services and the mechanisms that allow simple implementation of data flow between the local application and the remote control system. This task is realized in two layers. Firstly, Abeans define a model that is a layer of Java Beans components that represents controlled objects. Secondly, Abeans define a plug which is a driver layer, specific to a given model and an underlying communication system. In addition, Abeans provide several useful services: logging, exception handling, configuration and data resource loaders, authentication, and policy management. CosyBeans provide clear and consistent visualization of dynamic data with standardized presentation of alarms, monitors and connection status. In this article we present the basic concepts of Abeans and latest developments, such as the BACI model, developed for ESO, the possibility to write CosyBeans GUI components as JADE agents for JLab and AbeansDirectory, an Abeans service that is an implementation of JNDI DirContext. We continue by outlining some use cases where we show how these technical solutions help solve concrete problems the application programmer is facing in the real life. We will look at a generic application Object Explorer that is able to display and modify any value that is accessible by a given control system. This means that the same application can be used to explore TINE, EPICS or ACS CORBA based system. Second example will be a specialized panel that displays and controls values of a remote physical device. We will show that by using Abeans, the application developer just needs to take care of the user interface – by means of CosyBeans graphical displayers, he can construct a fully functional application in a visual editor without writing a single line of code, the lifecycle of remote entities and the installation of services is performed by the Abeans. As a third example, we will show how to make use of the Abeans when developing a complex application for machine physics that interacts with a large number of physical devices and depends heavily on the services provided by the framework.

The machine control system of the synchrotron radiation source ANKA at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is migrating from dedicated I/O microcontroller boards that utilise the LonWorks field bus and are visualised with the ACS Corba based control system to Ethernet TCP/IP devices with an EPICS server layer and visualisation by Control System Studio (CSS). This migration is driven by the need to replace ageing hardware, and in order to move away from the outdated microcontroller's embedded LonWorks bus. Approximately 500 physical devices, such as power supplies, vacuum pumps etc, will need to be replaced (or have their I/O hardware changed) and be integrated to the new EPICS/CSS control system. In this paper we report on the technology choices and discuss justifications of those choices, the progress of migration, and how such a task can be achieved in a transparent way with a fully user operational machine. We also report on the benefits reaped from using EPICS, CSS and BEAST alarming.

We present the control system for the light source ANKA, which builds on the three-tier standard model architecture. Modern products based on standards in distributed objects and networking are applied in addition to low-cost hardware including PCs. The LonWorks field bus network with intelligent nodes and standard I/O modules connect the individual devices directly to PCs. Those PCs act as Web servers for data transmission, application distribution and documentation retrieval. Other PCs on the net run Web browsers with Java clients. The communication with the control system data servers is done through CORBA. CORBA objects are wrapped into JavaBeans, which are connected with commercial data-manipulation and visualisation Beans using visual tools or programmatically. The CORBA objects and JavaBeans are generic models of controlled data that can be used at any other control system. The Java applications are based on those objects only and can thus be run on any other accelerator.