Linux-Based Software Control for Xenon Systems

Abstract

This paper will review software control solutions for systems requiring automated control and analysis. Written in the C++ language under the Linux operating system (OS), a client/server architecture was developed for automated systems enabling modularized processes to perform system control. In this scheme, narrowly focused clients and servers communicate with each other to perform tasks necessary for system execution. Each hardware interface, such as analog input/output modules, instrumentation, and detectors, have a server associated with it that can be accessed individually with various client interface programs. These servers also inherently support reporting all sensor values to a state-of-health server. One advantage to this software architecture is that all software servers can be accessed and altered independently without stopping the entire control system providing flexibility during development and operation. Automation is achieved using a state-machine based control program that implements the process necessary to run the system. The state-machine provides a well-defined process flow with each state defining one step in the overall control process. The state-machine framework is highly flexible. During development, states can easily be modified, added, or removed as needed.