Improving Information Exchange between the AGS and Its Experimenters

The increasing number of concurrently operating experiments and our expanding experimental areas are creating a need for more effective communications between the AGS and its users. Effective operation of a large accelerator complex such as the AGS requires the enthusiastic cooperation of all its support and experimental groups. In an effort to provide these groups with both instantaneous and long term machine information, we use area display boards, public address announcements, telephone communications and scheduling meetings. To complement these systems, a visual information network has been devised which provides machine status, performance data and scheduling information through the use of a closed circuit television system. The experimental groups on their part provide coded operational status information to the Main Control Room where it is processed and displayed. The chronological status of the AGS machine and of each of the experimental groups is recorded by a computer which periodically scans and records this information so that it may be analyzed and presented on command.