Introduction
MEC configuration management requires an inventory of available hardware and software infrastructure resources, defined standard configurations, and additional experiment specific needs.
Data Model
In the current implementation two classes of resources are considered when creating a configuration. These are the connection points into the control system for each motor stage and the vacuum feedthrus available on the MEC target chamber. These tables are implemented as Google Sheets on the MEC Team Drive and manually downloaded as CSV files for configuration processing and automated Confluence page creation.
Motor Connections
The motor connection table describes where the cabling from the target chamber, or via in-air, enters an ECS-owned rack.
- Type - this is the nature of the interface, e.g. to a patch panel or to a Newport controller.
- Interface - this is the specific location of the connection, e.g. to Newport controller MCN-MEC-TCH3.
- Connection - this is the connection number at that interface.
- PV - this is the EPICs Process Variable associated with this control system entity.
Vacuum Feedthrus
Each feedthru on the MEC target chamber is described by:
- Flange - Flange identifier, e.g. T5.
- Feedthru - Specific feedthru on the flange.
- Format - Connector type, e.g. DB15
Motor associated with each Component
The motors used for an experiment are classed by component name and by specific item within those components. For example, component "XTCS" and item "Filter Wheel". The full description includes:
- Component, e.g. VISAR
- Item, e.g. VISAR Lens - Y
- Python Name - this is the x.<> name accessible in hutch python, e.g. visar_y.
- Set-up - this describes motor configuration information either as a pmgr entry or as a Newport stage type, e.g. Newport: MFA-CCV6.
- PV - The EPICS Process Variable used for this stage, e.g. MEC:PPL:MMN:26. This PV is cross-matched against the PVs given Motor Connection resource table.
- Flange/FF - The flange and feedthru used for this stage, e.g. B5/B7. This is cross-matched against the Flange and Feedthru columns in the Vacuum Feedthrus resource table.
Configuration Management
Experiments set-ups are defined by the set of ECS-controlled components they need to use. These component sets are based on the defined MEC standard configurations, e.g. LPL Standard Configuration #1 (co-linear) - see 3. Experimental Configurations. Additional items that are specific to individual experiments are added to these foundational sets. The resulting full configuration is processed to produce reports on cabling and control system details as a list of remaining resources.