USE OF REAL-TIME KERNELS IN PROCESS-CONTROL - AN APPLICATION TO BEAM INSTRUMENTATION

Process-control system components have evolved from a state where they provided a simple digital and analog interface to the world, to very sophisticated dedicated computers offering a service. The software in these devices has followed the same evolution: on the one hand it has continued satisfying the real-time constraints dictated by process control, on the other hand it has coped with the complexity of the fully developed computer system which it has now become. The beam instrumentation of LEP consists of several types of instruments ion which are distributed over the whole perimeter of the collider and are interfaced to the control system using approximately 100 VME crates. Since most of the applications needed the same type of facilities, protection mechanisms and systems services, it seemed justified to provide a common environment to all. The embedded applications environment is built around a commercially available operating-system kernel and provides services such as alarm management, communications, logbook, etc. The design goals and benefits of this approach and the description of this environment are discussed. © 1990.