Software Status

Murrough Landon - 27 February 2003
http://www.hep.ph.qmul.ac.uk/landon/talks

Contents

• Overall status
• Current priorities
• Package Details
• Schedule and next steps

Status summary

Overview

• Mainz/Stockholm visit was useful in forcing development and clarifying what needed to be done before their proposed second visit....
• Some of this has been achieved (or nearly so)
• Meanwhile software developers effort continues to be expended on hardware tests
• And spending lots of time in meetings...

Work and priorities since the ``JEM visit'' (1)

Multistep runs

• Aim: implement multistep runs for (a) loading a succession of test vector files or (b) stepping through calibration parameters
• Module services interface to support pause/resume run control state transitions [done]
• Run controllers to invoke them automatic [done]
• Database to support stepping through calibration parameters [done, but not committed]
• Database/run control to support loading new test vectors [not yet done]

Work and priorities since the ``JEM visit'' (2)

Broadcast TTCrx settings

• Aim: set TTCrx parameters via TTC (until I2C versions ready)
• Database and module services changes [done]

Module status

• Aim: read and report module status (links, errors, etc) during a run
• Module services interface to fill status variables [done]
• Run controllers to provide and store them to IS [done]
• IGUI panel(s) to display them [not yet done]

Work and priorities since the ``JEM visit'' (3)

``Kicker''/run control evolution

• Aim: better convergence of the standalone ``kicker'' programs with run control and database
• Common initialisation of HDMC infrastructure between module services standalone programs and the run control [not yet done]
• Convert some ``kicker'' programs to monitoring tasks using event data [not yet done]

Run types

• Aim: allow sets of parameters to be chosen as a group
• Database changes to support this [done, but not committed]

Package highlights

Module Services

• Significant interface changes (affecting many classes)
• Improved DSS daughtercard support

Simulation

• JEM simulation still required!

Databases

• A lot of internal code changes to enable support for new features
• Also corresponding changes required to all datafiles

Event dump

• Latest Online software release (which we are not yet using) allows the event dump to be customised to produce meaningful displays of detector ROD fragments
• Dave Kant at QMUL has started looking at this (in his spare time as system manager)
• He has produced a short requirements document for comment before starting an implementation

To Do List

Software

• Calibration and setup procedures: collect data from multistep runs to produce calibration files
• Use Online Monitoring framework
• Use (some of) the ROS software?

Systems

• We are standardised on what is increasingly old software (about to be three Online software versions behind the one that is currently being supported)
• Its never a good time to migrate - but we cant put it off forever...

Workshops and working groups

More details at Mainz... hopefully

Briefly

• 2-3 days database workshop: mostly on the conditions database. Plenty of issues raised, convergence less clear
• Monitoring workshop during recent ATLAS week, feedback required to (via) the monitoring working group
• Error handling and fault tolerance working group also interested in feedback on ideas for distributed error handling being suggested in the DAQ/HLT TDR
• ROD crate DAQ workshop on 26 March: Im asked to talk about our experience with the Online database