Progress of general control system for Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility at J-PARC

Sakai, Kenji ; Oi, Motoki ; Takada, Hiroshi   ; Kai, Tetsuya   ; Nakatani, Takeshi ; Kobayashi, Yasuo*; Watanabe, Akihiko*

For safely and efficiently operating a spallation neutron source and a muon target, a general control system (GCS) operates within Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF). GCS administers operation processes and interlocks of many instruments. It consists of several subsystems such as an integral control system (ICS), interlock systems (ILS), shared servers, network system, and timing distribution system (TDS). Although GCS is an independent system that controls the target stations, it works closely with the control systems of the accelerators and other facilities in J-PARC. Since the first beam injection, GCS has operated stably without any serious troubles after modification based on commissioning for operation and control. Then, significant improvements in GCS such as upgrade of ICS by changing its framework software and function enhancement of ILS were proceeded until 2015. In this way, many modifications have been proceeded in the entire GCS during a period of approximately ten years after start of beam operation. Under these situation, it is important to comprehend upgrade history and present status of GCS in order to decide its upgrade plan. This report summarizes outline, structure, roles and functions of GCS in 2017.