Minutes from the meeting ( 2016-05-16 )

Attendees: Jerome, Tonko, Dmitry A.
Discussion Topic: MIRA upgrade related to the Run 17 TPC controls upgrade planned by Tonko

Brief summary: Tonko wants Dmitry to create a Fake EPICS IOC service in MIRA, which will allow to emulate the existing EPICS IOCs controllling TPC gating grid. Internally, this emulator will convert all EPICS requests into MQTT calls, which allows Tonko to use MIRA/MQTT functionality directly while keeping EPICS/MEDM TPC Control UI as is for the transition period.

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1. Details:

Current conditions: TPC gating grid hardware is controlled by EPICS TPC IOC. Users issue commands using EPICS/MEDM graphical interface (desktop app).

Proposed upgrade: replace EPICS TPC IOC with new MIRA-compatible service developed by Tonko, while keeping EPICS UI functional until we come up with proper replacement, likely web-based MIRA interface.

Action Item: Dmitry needs to develop an emulator of EPICS IOC, which will transparently convert EPICS requests into MQTT/MIRA requests and vice versa.

Deadline: Tonko wants to see draft version implemented by December 2016, so we can test it before the Run 17. Final version (both DAQ side and Controls side) is expected to be delivered by the beginning of first physics events of Run 17.

Possible Show-stopper: Currently, MIRA is limited to two nodes - mq01,mq02. Both nodes serve multiple roles, and have the following set of services installed: MQTT server, AMQP server, MIRA EPICS->MQ collectors, CDEV->MQ collectors, MQ->DB logger, MQTT->WebSocket forwarding service. Functioning EPICS IOC emulator will require a permanent binding to EPICS-specific TCP/UDP ports, which may (TBC) prevent existing EPICS->MQ collectors from being functional as they also use those ports. If this suspicion is confirmed (Dmitry), then IOC emulator service will require a separate node to be provided.

2. Diagrams:

Existing MIRA setup (before) :




Proposed MIRA upgrade (after) :