An event-oriented database for continuous data flows in the TJ-II environment

A new database for storing data related to the TJ-II experiment has been designed and implemented. It allows the storage of raw data not acquired during plasma shots, i.e. data collected continuously or between plasma discharges while testing subsystems (e.g. during neutral beam test pulses). This new database complements already existing ones by permitting the storage of raw data that are not classified by shot number. Rather these data are indexed according to a more general entity entitled event. An event is defined as any occurrence relevant to the TJ-II environment. Such occurrences are registered thus allowing relationships to be established between data acquisition, TJ-II control-system and diagnostic control-system actions. In the new database, raw data are stored in files on the TJ-II UNIX central server disks while meta-data are stored in Oracle tables thereby permitting fast data searches according to different criteria. In addition, libraries for registering data/events in the database from different subsystems within the laboratory local area network have been developed. Finally, a Shared Data Access System has been implemented for external access to data. It permits both new event-indexed as well as old data (indexed by shot number) to be read from a common event perspective.