Editing THAP 014: A New Interface for EPICS

Title: THAP 014: A New Interface for EPICS

Abstract: The EPICS software is primarily used for process control. However, the authors believe that the software's expansion and integration with advanced modeling and control toolkits can be improved. They propose a new C++-based interface to abstract containerized data, which can be applied to message passing in distributed systems, direct communication between tightly coupled programs, and integrating dissimilar systems. This interface aims to address the limitations in EPICS's existing communication software interfaces.

Research Question: How can the EPICS software's communication interfaces be improved to facilitate the development of advanced modeling and control toolkits?

Methodology: The authors propose a new C++-based interface to abstract containerized data. This interface can be applied to message passing in distributed systems, direct communication between tightly coupled programs, and integrating dissimilar systems.

Results: The new interface can:

1. Facilitate efficient publish-and-subscribe communication strategies.
2. Allow message-batching for improved communication efficiency.
3. Generate an asynchronous response synchronized with external events.
4. Encourage proper design of distributed software systems.
5. Avoid application programmer-introduced mutual exclusion deadlocks.
6. Be properly structured to encourage robust response to loss of communication or other hardware resources.
7. Provide portability between workstations and embedded systems.

Implications: The new interface can improve the EPICS software's ability to facilitate the development of advanced modeling and control toolkits. It addresses the limitations in EPICS's existing communication software interfaces and encourages collaboration between different software modules. This can lead to more efficient development of advanced toolkits and better integration of EPICS with other systems.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0111026v1
Authors: 
arXiv ID: 0111026v1

[[Category:Computer Science]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Communication]]
[[Category:Interface]]
[[Category:Epics]]
[[Category:Can]]