A Portable Database Driven Control System for SPEAR

The new computer control system software for SPEAR is presented as a transfer from the PEP system. Features of the target ring (SPEAR) such as symmetries, magnet groupings, etc., are all contained in a design file which is read by both people and computer. People use it as documentation; a program reads it to generate the database structure, which becomes the center of communication for all the software. Geometric information, such as element positions and lengths, and CAMAC I/O routing information is entered into the database as it is developed. Since application processes refer only to the database and since they do so only in generic terms, almost all of this software (representing more then fifteen man years) is transferred with few changes. Operator console menus (touchpanels) are also transferred with only superficial changes for the same reasons. The system is modular: the CAMAC I/O software is all in one process; the menu control software is a process; the ring optics model and the orbit model are separate processes, each of which runs concurrently with about 15 others in the multiprogramming environment of the VAX/VMS operating system.