Monitors with EPICS displays surround operators in the Advanced Photon Source control room.

APS control software finds uses far afield

Software designed to control the intricacies of the APS has proven its flexibility far outside the laboratory. The software package now manages complex mechanical systems at more than 100 scientific and industrial sites worldwide, including flight simulators and microchip fabrication plants.

EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) is a software package developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne to manage particle accelerator operation. But because of its design flexibility, the software can also be adapted to operate other important mechanical systems. EPICS now positions telescopes at state-of-the-art observatories, controls the flow of electricity through major U.S. power grids and synchronizes components at wastewater treatment plants. 

Such facilities consist of thousands of parts that must be coordinated with split-second accuracy to function properly. EPICS has been licensed to two commercial vendors, helping the U.S. maintain its edge in the $3 billion-per-year market in computer control systems.

EPICS’ appeal is its adaptability. The software was created at Los Alamos and enhanced to meet the challenges faced by designers of the APS control system, which provides the nation's most brilliant research X-rays.

The challenge was to design a control system that would allow an operator to manage the APS from a single terminal. To save the time and expense of developing custom software from scratch, APS designers sought an existing set of software tools that could be adapted to their needs. The solution was EPICS, first developed by the AT-8 Control Group at Los Alamos. After the APS group asked to tailor part of EPICS to its specific needs, the two groups realized the software’s versatility and collaborated to produce a flexible system for a variety of facilities.

EPICS is now used by more than 100 independent projects in North America, Europe and Asia. A partial list of users includes:

• Boeing Phantom Works,
• Lockheed Martin,
• Agile Manufacturing Plant at Allied Signal,
• Liquefied Natural Gas Plant at BG&E,
• Western Lake Superior Waste Water Treatment Plant,
• St. Louis County Potable Water Distribution Network,
• Advanced Micro Devices Wafer Fabrication Clean Room,
• Citgo Oil Product Storage and Movement Facility,
• Las Vegas Potable Water Distribution Network,
• Pratt & Whitney Engine Test Facility,
• United Technologies Engine Test Facility, and
• McDonnell Douglas Component Test Facility.

For more information, please contact Catherine Foster.

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