aleynikov

QNX BASED SOFTWAREFOR PARTICLE ACCELERATOR CONTROL SYSTEM OF FLNR: 

QNX BASED SOFTWARE FOR PARTICLE ACCELERATOR CONTROL SYSTEM OF FLNR Vitaly Aleynikov Flerov’s Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions, JINR

Since 1999 we have been using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software named FlexCtrl 4 (BitCtrl Systems Ltd., Germany). It runs under UNIX-style commercial real-time operating system QNX (QNX Software Systems Ltd., Canada).  It was designed and put into operation control systems for 6 charged particles accelerators and radiating installations. Two more cyclotrons (DC-72 and DC-60) are at the final stage: assembled, tested in FLNR and ready for shipping .: 

Since 1999 we have been using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software named FlexCtrl 4 (BitCtrl Systems Ltd., Germany). It runs under UNIX-style commercial real-time operating system QNX (QNX Software Systems Ltd., Canada). It was designed and put into operation control systems for 6 charged particles accelerators and radiating installations. Two more cyclotrons (DC-72 and DC-60) are at the final stage: assembled, tested in FLNR and ready for shipping . RTOS QNX 4 + SCADA FLEXCTRL

After 6 years of using this commercial software there were developed custom visualization library and a lot of device drivers, that successfully replace and expand the regular software.  We have designed and integrated in SCADA device drivers for the following hardware:: 

After 6 years of using this commercial software there were developed custom visualization library and a lot of device drivers, that successfully replace and expand the regular software. We have designed and integrated in SCADA device drivers for the following hardware: SMARTBOX data acquisition module (FLNR, Russia) Rotating encoder input device (FLNR, Russia) RADIS GM2524-100 RF generator (RADIS Ltd., Russia) EVPU PS24-500, PS15-30, PS25-120 power supplies (EVPU, Slovakia) DANFYSIK power supplies models 883, 853T, 855 (DANFYSIK A/S, Denmark) FESTO DGE positioning system (Festo AG, Germany) PFEIFFER TPG-256, 261 vacuum measurement and control units (Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH, Germany) KEITHLEY digital multimeter model 2000 (Keithley Instruments Inc., USA) AGILENT 33220A function/arbitrary waveform generator (Agilent Technologies, USA) AMI Model 420 Power Supply Programmer (American Magnetics, Inc., USA)

Requirements to OS: 

Requirements to OS PC (x86) platform support because all control system nodes were x86 based Multi-tasking and suitable inter-process communication technique to run at the same time PLC's protocol driver, HMI, RTDB server and printer manager Good network integration to link remote nodes allocated over large area Openness and ease to write and integrate device driver for custom hardware Provide an embedded windowing system with full-featured GUI to afford convenient Human-Machine Interface Have powerful development tools to create application software Real-time and fault tolerant Be commercial, well known and have good customer support Have choice of SCADA software

Operating system: 

Operating system MS Windows NT QNX Linux UNIX OS-9 pSOS VxWorks

Operating system: 

Operating system MS Windows NT QNX Linux

Operating system: 

Operating system Commercial, over 20 years of real-time OS experience on x86 platforms, outsells every other real-time OS for PCs supported in almost 100 countries worldwide Designed for real-time control and open for custom software/hardware UNIX-style, scalable, multi-user, multi-tasking, network and POSIX-compliant Supports Photon microGUI as Windows-like graphical user interface Has Rapid Application Development tool Photon Application Builder Has choice of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software QSSL QNX Software Systems Ltd. Canada

SCADA software for QNX: 

SCADA software for QNX Sitex Realflex FlexCtrl PCP Virgo Fiord microSCADA

SCADA software for QNX: 

SCADA software for QNX FlexCtrl is a process control system for the automation of technological processes FlexCtrl is modular and extremely scalable FlexCtrl is a pure software system, no specific or special hardware is needed for process control. The interface to the system is open and the user has the possibility adding custom device driver to the system All parts of the FlexCtrl application can be managed with the project engineering system, which configures process model (process variables with all characteristics) FlexCtrl includes Process Model Editor, Graphics Editor, Network Configurator, User Administrator, Driver, Visualization and Run-time Compilers BitCtrl Systems Ltd., Germany

Project development software: 

Project development software For creating Human to Machine Interface (HMI) we use Photon Application Builder instead of the FlexCtrl Graphics Editor. Application Builder compiles GUI and custom function and image libraries into the HMI application. All parts of the FlexCtrl application can be managed with the project engineering system, which configures process model (process variables with all characteristics). The system includes Process Model Editor, Graphics Editor, Network Configurator, User Administrator, Driver, Visualization and Run-time Compilers. The QNX package includes the Watcom С/С++ highly optimizing compiler and debugger. We use it for creating custom hardware drivers.

Application software: 

Application software FlexCtrl project engineering system All parts of the FlexCtrl application can be managed with the project engineering system, which configures process model (process variables with all characteristics). The system includes Process Model Editor, Graphics Editor, Network Configurator, User Administrator, Driver, Visualization and Run-time Compilers.

Application software: 

Application software HMI development. Photon Application Builder For creating Human to Machine Interface (HMI) we use Photon Application Builder instead of the FlexCtrl Graphics Editor. Application Builder compiles GUI and custom function and image libraries into the HMI application.

IPC and data flow: 

IPC and data flow QNX depends on the exchange of discrete packets of information – messages – to handle virtually all inter-process communication. Message passing lies at the heart of the operating system’s microkernel architecture, giving the OS its modularity. This paradigm applies to all levels of programming, from device drivers to file system and LAN. FlexCtrl strongly uses this message passing technique as for internal run-time communication as for interfacing to device drivers. Every job of some significance in FC is handled through a single computational process (server). FlexControl comprises a long list of these tasks: Process administration and process supervision Real-time database (RTDB) Calculation server (Soft SPC tasks) Visualization server and HMI Alarm server Message server Protocol drivers

Application software: 

Application software DC-72 cyclotron control system HMI (channel B6 beam line )

Application software: 

Application software DC-72 cyclotron control system HMI (cyclotron vacuum system )

Conclusion: 

Conclusion At present time we do not have serious problems with the selected solution (QNX and FC) and we will continue using it for the further projects. + The benefits are: Stability since the core of the OS and SCADA system is well optimized and tested Development tools decrease total project engineering time and allows concentrating more on visualization and automation algorithms Flexibility. Openness and good interaction possibility allows easily add new hardware ̶ The disadvantages are: Lack of QNX 4 device drivers for the most recent hardware (video, network) In a few years QSSL and BitCtrl will not provide support for outdated software versions (QNX 6 and FC 6 are available now) Poor support of office application software