PHELIX shot database (PSDB)

Udo Eisenbarth

GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH

CS Workshop, Jena 9.-10.2.2012

Experiments

Shots Instances

The situation so far…The situation so far…

Documenting PHELIX operation was far away from being optimal:

• Manual shot documentation (Excel table) … error prone

• Non-standard measurement data stored in single files (“somewhere”)

• No search for certain shot data

• Difficult to compare shots / shot series

• Accessible from only one computer

Requirements for the shot databaseRequirements for the shot database

TechnicalReliable data storage

Storage of arbitrary data types (numeric, strings, images, spectra, …)

Flexible enough to handle changes of the laser setup

Possibility to add user data (as attachments)

HandlingAs little maintenance effort as possible

Easy access from everywhere

Access policy

PSDB structure overviewPSDB structure overview

Database

Webserver

Application written inRuby on Rails 3.1

Web browser

View & Export data

LabVIEW interface

CS-Application

Write data

PSDB

Design considerations 1Design considerations 1

Shot/Run-based data:

Shot

Id (Shot Number)

Date

Comment

Experiment

Shot type

Camera 1

Powermeter 5

Camera 2

Shutter 4

Picture:

Exposure Time: 20 µs

Picture:

Exposure Time: 15 µs

Energy: 123 J

Position: open

No “continuous” data recorded (so far) : permanent measurements (e.g. vacuum)

Design considerations 2Design considerations 2

What to measure / record ?

e.g: Camera data Parameter Data changes Data type & size

Image each shot image (0.1-1 MByte)

Exposure Time

from time to time

numeric (8 byte)

Serial Number

very rarely numeric (8 byte)

For each shot ALL data is written to the database

• minor drawback with respect to size (information redundancy)• much easier handling (no versioning necessary)• strongly reduced maintenance effort

Database structure overviewDatabase structure overview

Shot structureShot structure

Shot

Shot #

Timestamp

Experiment #

Shot type

Shot commentShot typeTest shotExperiment shotSnapshot

ExperimentInternalP010P018…

Best shot ever, blah,blah, …

2010-25-1 15:00

Automatically assigned

Measurement data structureMeasurement data structure

Device Data

Data typesNumericStringImageSpectrum…

DevicesPA_Input_NF_CamMAS_Filt1_BBMAS_Spectrometer…

Shot # Device # Parameter Data type Data

4711 1 Shutter Numeric 412

4711 1 Picture Image

4711 2 Filt_in Numeric 1

4712 1 Shutter Numeric 515

4712 3 Spectrum Spectrum

… … … … …

Shots…

PSDB LabVIEW interface example 1PSDB LabVIEW interface example 1

Open and close a database connection

PSDB LabVIEW interface example 2PSDB LabVIEW interface example 2

Register a (CS-) instance

This is usually done in the CS constructor

PSDB LabView interface example 3PSDB LabView interface example 3

Write data

PSDB StatisticsPSDB Statistics

During a PHELIX shot

• data written by 167 registered CS instances.

• 24 class types and 13 subsystems registered.

• 1740 instance values (average) written per shot.

• 3.6 MByte (average) written per shot.

Scalability was tested in development setup

• > 200 CS instances

• > 5 million instance values (> 3 GByte)

=> No performance issues were observed (LabVIEW & Web interface) !

StatusStatus

LabVIEW / PCS interfaceReady to go

Web interface90% implemented (except access control)

Still to be done:User authentication and authorization on the way…

Further enhancements?

Any feature requests from the CS community are welcome.

With begin of 2012 PHELIX has completely switched to PSDB