Use of RCP forInstrument Control

Tony Lam

2006 Eclipse Meeting @ SLAC

Outline

• GumTreeGumTree DemoGumTree Vista

• Scientific EclipseNOMAD (ILL)FABLE (ESRF)

• Collaboration Issues

Problem Domain: Complex Instrument Ecosystem

Proposal DB

Control SystemData Archive

Device Drivers

Device Server

Instrument Server

WebResource

Internet

GRID

WebService

Solution: Integrated Scientific Experiment Environment

Proposal DB

Control SystemData Archive

Device Drivers

Device Server

Instrument Server

WebResource

Internet

GRID

WebService

cf. IDE

GumTree Project

• GumTree is a scientific workbench that manages the complete experiment lifecycle for users

• Integrated Scientific Experiment Environment Instrument Control & Data AcquisitionOnline and Offline Data AnalysisElectronic Laboratory Notebook & Report (OLE, BIRT) [proposed] Collaborative environment for multi-national

experiment (ECF)

Demo

• 6 minutes demo

GumTree Vista

• GumTree has been built on a new architecture, with codename Vista

GumTree

New Architecture

Control System(SICS, EPICS, TANGO)

InstrumentModel Server

GumTree RCPGumTree RAP*

Swing BasedDiagnostic Tools

J2EE WebInterface

Batch ServerInstrument

model definition

Project Vista

GumTree Vista

• Motivation Data analysis team wants to access experiment data

via instrument componentWeb interface for status monitoringModel / data flow driven development

• GumTree RCP remains its role as the integrated scientific workbench

• First prototype will be available on Jul ‘06

New Features

• What can GumTree Vista offer:Simplified API for adapting to other control

systemStronger security in new layered architectureValidation of user request based on various

sources (eg current instrument status, database, etc)

Multi-clients connectivity (independent of technology choice)

RCP: Control System

• Controlling instrument via instrument model (JaveBean data structure)

• Instrument model server can produces a model driven data set

• Instrument model server can be adapted to other control system

RCP: Visualisation

• Visualisation component will be split into two levels:General purpose SWT widget with no dependency on

the rest of GumTree systemExtension of GumTree (allows binding with internal

GumTree data for display)

SWT VIS SWT/OpenGLNeXus VISextendsextends

GumTree VIS

Can be used by other SWT/RCP applications

RCP: Data

• Internal data format has been chosen to Extended NeXus format It describes the whole instrument modelStrong linking to control system, experiment setup

(via wizard), monitoring, etc

• NeXus format can be transformed to other data format via XSLT (heavy commitment by ANSTO’s data analysis team)

• Another possible GumTree internal data representation: EMF

Data AnalysisRun algorithm remotely by RMI, TANGO, Web Service (GRID), or PTP API??

DANSE like simplified scientific workflow

NOMAD

• Developed by Institut Laue-Langevin (France)

• To be deployed on 11 neutron beam instruments in June

• Based on SWT and OpenGL

• User interface components are generated by XML definition (like XSWT)

• Has a cool way to perform experiment!

• Collaboration? Well, it’s not open source.

FABLE

• Joint collaboration between ESRF (France) and Risø Institute (Denmark)

• Scientific workbench for crystallography data analysis with synchrotron data

• Can be extended to acquire data from the synchrotron beamline.

• http://fable.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Collaboration

• Share development experienceDiscussionRecommendations

• Do not duplicate our efforts Reusable code / plugin

• Manage existing open source projects

Possible Collaboration Methods

• Scientific Plugin LibraryEvery facility requires different system architectureSharing codes in plugin level is more realisticSciForge.net??

• Eclipse based scientific communityA community under Eclipse FoundationBenefits: website space, mailing list, bugzilla,

newsgroup, gaining publicity in mainstream IT industry

Drawback: management is time consuming

Case Study onEclipse Community Model

• A dedicated scientific eclipse projectExample: Parallel Tools Platform (PTP) Project

• Managing individual sub-projects under a communityExample: Generative Model Transformer (GMT)

Project

• Promotion of Eclipse technology with almost no software artefactsExample: Eclipse Community Education Project

(ECESIS)

Case Study onEclipse Community Model

• Foundation Member Working GroupsExample: Japan Working GroupShould we call ourselves “Scientific Woking Group”??

• Initial subproject under existing Eclipse Technology ProjectExample: NOGreg Watson (Los Alamos Cluster computing team)

from PTP has offered his help

Conclusion

• Increasing adoption of Eclipse Technology creates opportunity for us to share codes

• Question: Are we on the same road?