EPICS FAQ

General

What is EPICS?

EPICS is a set of software tools and applications which provide a software infrastructure for use in building distributed control systems to operate devices such as Particle Accelerators, Large Experiments and major Telescopes. Such distributed control systems typically comprise tens or even hundreds of computers, networked together to allow communication between them and to provide control and feedback of the various parts of the device from a central control room, or even remotely over the internet.

The term (EPICS) also refers to the collaboration of organizations that are involved in the software's development and use. It was originally written jointly by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, and is now used by many large scientific facilities throughout the world. Development now occurs cooperatively between these various groups, with much sharing of I/O device support and client applications.

How Can I Learn Some Details About EPICS?

Many of the sites listed above have tutorials, slides, or overviews of EPICS. It is helpful to peruse several different sites to get a broad exposure of how the facilities use EPICS.

The Getting Started With EPICS Lecture Series presented and recorded at the Advance Photon Source in the Fall of 2004 is probably the most recent and exhaustive series of training presentations. The lectures are available via streaming video and the Power Point slides are available for downloading. The table of contents is available at: http://www.aps.anl.gov/aod/bcda/epicsgettingstarted/index.html

The Collaboration

How Do I Join the Collaboration?

There is no formal membership criteria or process. If you begin attending the semi-annual collaboration meetings, submit questions or respond with answers on the tech-talk list-server, or share your EPICS device support or applications with others, you will be warmly welcomed as a contributing member of the collaboration.

What Are Some of the Collaboration Activities?

Questions, comments, solutions, and other dialogue are routinely exchanged on the EPICS list-server: tech-talk (http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/tech-talk/index.php). If a question is worded thoughtfully and with sufficient detail, it is not uncommon to receive an answer (or sometimes several answers) in a few hours. The more precise the question, the more likely you will receive an expedient response.

There are semi-annual EPICS Collaboration Meetings where people give short talks on recent accomplishments, advances, changes, etc. This is a fertile ground for the exchange of ideas with respect to control systems. Agendas and presentations from past meetings can be seen on-line at http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/meetings.php

It is also not uncommon for individuals to visit other labs for short term assistance, training, or advice. This is a very beneficial aspect of the collaboration.