Run Control

Links

• Run States and Transitions
• Web Server
• odbedit
• Monitoring the Experiment
• Customizing the Experiment
• hot-link

Introduction

This section describes Run Control and Monitoring of the experiment.

A run starts when the MIDAS system receives a Start Transition , and continues until it receives a Stop transition . In the simplest case, this is when the commands "Start" and "Stop" are issued.

• Run Control describes how that run may be controlled, including
  • where the data is to be stored (e.g. tape),
  • on what conditions the run should be allowed to start (e.g. hardware is ready, beam is on)
  • when it should stop (e.g. beam goes off, hardware failure).

• Monitoring involves
  • informing the user on the progress of the run,
  • displaying statistics or history plots,
  • sending information or alarm messages to warn the user of any problems.

Fundamental to Run Control and Monitoring is the Online Database (ODB) which contains all of the information for an experiment. Therefore a run control program requires access only to information in the ODB.

Programming exactly what data is read during the run falls under Frontend Operation , and analyzing the data during or after the run is described under Data Analysis .