1 kenneth osborne, 9/14/07 inter group communications at the advanced light source. overview of the...

1 Kenneth Osborne, 9/14/07

Inter Group communications at the Advanced Light Source.

• Overview of the different methods of communication between different groups.

• Focus on internal communications and methods which increase operational effectiveness.

Kenneth Osborne

Advanced Light Source LBNL


Advanced Light Source

• Synchrotron light source• Approx. 40 beamlines• 196.8m circumference. • Linac and Booster ring are in the same building.• Operated separately from other accelerators at the lab.• 15 yrs old and currently being upgraded to 1.9 GeV Top

Off injection


Detail

• How ALS is structured for context in how the different groups communicate.

• Internal structure of the operations group.– Communications with Control Room to keep the ALS

operating effectively

• Influences of the growth of online communication methods.


External Groups

• External vs. Internal not clearly defined• Safety • Radiation Safety• Building Construction and maintenance• User services• Beam line proposals• Experiment proposals• Other Laboratories


User Groups

• Experimenters vary from permanent accelerator employees or temporary guests for a single day– Some beamlines useful for accelerator diagnostics

• Training needs• Operations, technicians and engineers support both accelerator and

experimenters.


Internal groups

• Accelerator physics• Engineering (including Technicians)

– Mechanical, vacuum

– Electronics

– instrumentation

– Controls

– User support

• Beam Line Coordinators


Beamline Coordination

• Beam Line Coordinators – Beamlines are at almost full capacity.

– Work closely with users ensuring changes to experiments are done safely.

– Help with many daily user needs.

– Interface between users and control room for many items.


Current challenges for ALS

• 15 year old machine.• Control system is being slowly upgraded or replaced.• Top off mode – booster upgrade in progress.


Documents for communication

• Proposals, reviews and other documents for external (and internal) use.

• “ALS Procedure Center” maintains central internal reference documents for both technical reference and safety or regulatory purposes.

• Control Room Logbook• Distributed electronic methods- Reference documents on

separate servers maintained by each group.


ALS procedure center

• Maintained on server• Longer term documents• Some are required for safety or regulatory purposes and

archived.• Others may be for operational or engineering reference

only• Many are reviewed regularly• Very useful for training


Control Room Logbook

• Center of Operations daily communication.• Daily events to be recorded.• Also used for Accelerator Physics or engineering

communications.• Archived for a long time.• ALS implemented electronic log keeping four years ago.


Electronic Log keeping Advantages

• Implemented 4 years ago at ALS• Legible• Accessible remotely from other offices or buildings for

reading and posting• Enables communication with Control Room for Physicists

and Engineers• Searchable


Electronic Log keeping limitations

• Searching not effective if there are many routine entries concerning item.


Electronic bulletin boards

• Useful to bridge between Procedure Center which are reviewed every 1 to 3 years and logbook which is updated by the minute.

• Maintained by many different groups.• Control room could use a wiki type site to link and

organize the information from different groups according to equipment or subject.


Remote access and operations

• Remote operations is not available or necessary for ALS• Online Control Room logbook• Status display• 2 beam quality monitors • Some troubleshooting and machine setup are available

remotely


Challenges for the future

• Finish upgrade to continuous injection• Adjust to new demands in this mode.

– Personnel changes, not just operators.

– Equipment concerns; running linac and booster ring continuously