Cosylab: Your Professional ACS Partner

1. Cosylab:Your ProfessionalACS Partner Klemen Žagar klemen.zagar@cosylab.com 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

2. Overview • Cosylab – who we are and what we do • Role in ACS development • Services • Consulting • Training • Support • Development • Student internships • New Service Model • Products • microIOC 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

3. Cosylab • Established in 2001 • Spin-off of the Jožef Stefan Institute (JSI) • Research-grade competence with a professional attitude • Field of work: • Control systems for (large) experimental physics facilities • Geographical information systems (GIS) • Telecommunications • Automotive electronics • … 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

4. Cosylab • Employees: • From 6 in 2001 to 29 in 2006 • Graduates in physics, computing and electronics • Approximately 50 talented and motivated students sharpening their skills through our internship programs • ISO 9001 quality management system • Paper-free, distributed and flexible (project) management 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

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6. Control systems … 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

7. … telecommunications … 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

8. … project management tools … Web and e-mail access: anytime, anywhere. 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

9. … project management tools Project management, reporting and analysis. 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

10. Cosylab and ACS • JSI developed a control system for ANKA synchrotron • 1996-1999 • CORBA-based • Runs on standard PCs • Use of Java for the user interface • Gianluca (ESO) and Mark Pleško (JSI) met at ICALEPCS’99 • Management subsystem • ACS Manager, container/component model • Configuration database (CDB) • Architecture, design, implementation and maintenance • Basic Access and Control Interface (BACI) • Properties, monitors, characteristics, asynchronous/synchronous semantics • Archiving and logging • Design, implementation • Abeans/CosyBeans • Applications • Object Explorer, jLog 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

11. Cosylab’s Services to Users of ACS • Consulting • Need help figuring out how to start an ACS project? • Wonder if you are on the right track? • Having trouble and don’t see a way out? • Have an unanswered question? • Training • Starting a project – got the fingers, need the knowledge. • Custom development • Too much work, too little time. • Tough problem that needs to be solved well and quick. • Support • Support of ACS core. • Support of Cosylab’s or other code. • Additional pair of hands during commissioning. 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

12. Student internships • Cosylab and JSI have contact with students that: … are motivated, … talented, … need experience, … and are eager to see new places. • Why not let them help you on your project, at your site, while they learn? • Option: • Cosylab provides a mentor to supervise student’s work. 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

13. The New Service Model • The idea: • keep one person permanently at your site to collect requests and make quick fixes, • keep a larger team at Cosylab to provide expertise on all possible aspects, • pay one, get many.  • We are working on long-term partnership with customers and equipment suppliers. • We believe we can deliver extra value to in-house development: “do what you do best and leave to us the rest” 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

14. The Right Way to Outsourcing: Rightsourcing • Start with smaller projects (2-4 person-weeks) • Regular visits or work on-site • Between “in-sourcing” and “out-sourcing”: • 1 person on-site (gather requirements, communicate with customers, organize, support, service…) • expert team at home, professionally organized and managed • Benefits • pay onlyone person, get an expert in every area • retain the established work practice: • (almost) no specs • creative academic environment • ask and get (almost) the next day • value for money • efficiently managed • optimized procedures • no cure, no pay! • Lifetime support 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

15. microIOC • IOC: Input/Output Controller • Signals in, ACS out • Variety of I/O: • Serial communication (RS-232, RS-485, USB, …) • Analog/digital input/output • Motion controller • Oscilloscope • Signal generator • Delay generator • USB camera (with image analysis) 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

16. microIOC Dual Ethernet 8 serial ports Bootable Compact Flash 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

17. microIOC • The microIOCis a black box for installation: • with built-in ACS container • preconfigured components • Made of standard components: • a reliable power supply (55 years MTBF) • an PC104(+) bus • Intel-compatible processor • Linux or RTEMS operating system • Off-the-shelf parts easy to replace • No moving parts (fan, disk) to break in first place 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

18. Integrate Devices into ACS GPIB RS 232/422/485 USB/Ethernet camera Analog/digital I/O 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

19. Possible Applications • Diskless booting – reduce boot-up time • Large distributed systems (e.g., an array of telescopes) • Integrate a few signals here and there (utilities) • Integrate PLCs into ACS • Protocol converter: eg. Modbus - EPICS • Isolate device Ethernet network from other IOCs • Allows equipment vendors to integrate ACS • Office desktop ACS development/test system • ACS course hardware • Replacement contracts • 24h replacement shipping 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

20. The microIOC Family • Small 9” • Display 13” • Rack mount 19” 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

21. Thanks to … Gianluca Chiozzi • Organization of this workshop. • Showed us how to manage a complex software development project (ACS). • Letting me have this presentation. • Cosylab’s first customer.  3rd ACS Workshop, Garching

22. How to reach us … http://www.cosylab.com http://www.microioc.com klemen.zagar@cosylab.com Ljubljana, Slovenia 3rd ACS Workshop, Garching