SOFTWARE DESIGN OF THE SCHONLAND 6MV EN-TANDEM ACCELERATOR CONTROL SYSTEM

Currently the 6MV EN-Tandem van der Graaff accelerator at the Schonland Research Centre for Nuclear Sciences is being upgraded for computer control. A distributed, network based control architecture has been implemented and successfully installed to control two sections of the accelerator. A graphical user interface (GUI) is being designed which is both didactic and easy to use. The entire control system software has been written to use OS/2 and exploits the multi-threaded and real-time nature of the operating system. Source code has been written in C and C++. A client-server type architecture is used to control electronic components to provide dynamic prioritisation of control instructions and monitoring events. A relational database is used to store all system and control variables to facilitate upgrading needs. The modular nature of the control system allows minimal down time when installing new sections for computer control. We present here the design concepts, a status report and first results of the accelerator control system.