Computer controls for the WITCH experiment

Abstract The WITCH experiment is a medium-scale experimental set-up located at ISOLDE/CERN. It combines a double Penning trap system with a retardation spectrometer for energy measurements of recoil ions from β decay. For a correct operation of such a set-up a whole range of different devices is required. Along with the installation and optimization of the set-up a computer control system was developed to control these devices. The CS -Framework that is developed and maintained at GSI, was chosen as a basis for this control system as it is perfectly suited to handle the distributed nature of a control system.We report here on the required hardware for WITCH, along with the basis of this CS -Framework and the add-ons that were implemented for WITCH.