A parallel controls software approach for PEP II: AIDA & MATLAB middle layer

The controls software in use at PEP II (Stanford control program - SCP) had originally been developed in the eighties. It is very successful in routine operation but due to its internal structure it is difficult and time consuming to extend its functionality. This is problematic during machine development and when solving operational issues. Routinely, data has to be exported from the system, analyzed offline, and calculated settings have to be reimported. Since this is a manual process, it is time consuming and error-prone. Setting up automated processes, as is done for MIA (model independent analysis), is also time consuming and specific to each application. Recently, there has been a trend at light sources to use MATLAB [1] as the platform to control accelerators using a "MATLAB middle layer" [2] (MML), and so called channel access (CA) programs to communicate with the low level control system (LLCS). This has proven very successful, especially during machine development time and trouble shooting. A special CA code, named AIDA (Accelerator Independent Data Access [3]), was developed to handle the communication between MATLAB, modern software frameworks, and the SCP. The MML had to be adapted for implementation at PEP II. Colliders differ significantly in their designs compared to light sources, which poses a challenge. PEP II is the first collider at which this implementation is being done. We will report on this effort, which is still ongoing.