From Grenouille toPolar Bears

Managing metadata and data capture for the Astra-Gemini 0.5 PW laser

All Hands Meeting, Edinburgh, 8-11 Sep 2008

Laurent Lerusse, ESC Victoria Marshall, CICT

Edwin Divall, CLF

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•What is STFC?•Our Vision of Data Management•The Central Laser Facility•CLF Architecture Overview

•Polar Bear System•Elk: the Electronic Log booK

•What’s next?

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What is STFC?

Science and Technology Facilities Council

•Funds researchers in universities.•Provides scientific and technical expertise.•Provides access to world-class facilities overseas: CERN, ESA,ESO, ESRF, ILL, telescopes in Chile, Hawaii, La Palma and Australia. •Manages world-class facilities in UK: ISIS, the Central Laser Facility, HPCx and the Diamond Light Source.

Proposal

Metadata Catalogue

Information

Experiment

Secure Storage

Data Analysis

Publication

E-PubsProposal System

Data Acquisition

System

Data and Metadata Capture is automated.

Integrated e-Infrastructure

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Integration via Metadata

Data Store

DataData

Data Store

DataData

Experiment

Experiment

Data

Analysis

Simulation

DataData

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Central Laser Facility from dual beam Petawatt to commercial size lasers

•Multiple lasers: VULCAN, ASTRA, Laser For Science•New laser: Astra-Gemini - October 2007•Targets area are ‘rebuilt’ with new diagnostics for each experiment.

http://www.clf.rl.ac.uk/

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Astra-Gemini•Dual beam high intensity pulsed laser •0.5 PW or 15 J in 30 fs•Repetition rate of 3 shots per minute•Adaptive optics for high beam quality

This upgrade represents an improvement of a factor * 10 in intensity* 100 in repetition rate

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CLF Data Flow

•15 types of data•All interconnected

•At the moment, we are concentrating our effort on the proposals and laser data.

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Top Level Architecture

DAQ

AutomaticNeXusWriter

PolarBear

Metadata

ELk

Manual

eCAT

VisualisationAnalysis

eCATDB

Latest

CLF SRB

Archive

Laser representation

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Polar Bear System

Initial aim:

Gather information on the laser components and the data they produce in an XML format which could be integrated with the data.

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Polar Bear SystemInstruments: •33 different types in 2 categories:

•Catalogueable (identifiable)•Generic

•Need manual input to fill the details• Serial no, focal length, model, etc

•Examples: –Grenouille (From Swamp Optics)–Polarizer (aka Polar Bear)–Telescope

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Polar Bear SystemXML description of the laser.•Laser defined using:

- Assemblages

- Channels

- DataStreams•Meta-information within the structure:

• Instruments• Shot type• Data collection type• Next component

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Polar Bear SystemOrthogonal classification/view of the laser: •Three-level hierarchy to locate each Channel:

- By room, - By table,- By the type of data.

•Simpler view for ‘everyday’ use and the user interface. •Includes the Channel and DataStream names.

•The data will contain both structure and description with all the metadata.

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Electronic Lab booK (ELk)Initial aim: •Ruggedised WiFi PDA.•Allows the operator to log non-automatic information from the laser “shop floor”.•Safety goggles and reduced lighting made the interface challenging! •Uses the PolarBear metadata to present a customised interface for manual readings and incidents.• Integrates seamlessly with the rest of the DAQ system.

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Electronic Lab booK (ELk)

• Parallel PDA + desktop version, used to:

• Present “Daily instructions” on how to switch the laser on.• Record instrument configuration changes. (eg. Diode blows up.)• Record environmental factors.• Upload pictures, screen dumps and comments from dedicated h/ware.

• Stores the data in a database and uploads XML/NeXus files.

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What did we learn?•Defining a complex system such as Astra-Gemini in a machine readable format (XML) is not easy. •Filling metadata is hard to set up, but pays dividends later. • “Culture shock” between the laser scientists/operators and the computer scientists. (“You want me to hand-edit XML??”)

•Evolution, not revolution, for a new approach to data management/analysis.

Technical details

• DAQ: LabView and Visual Basic• neXusWriter: C++ and some Python• PolarBear: ASP and JavaScript• ELk: Java, Ajax and JavaScript• eCAT: Java• Data storage: Oracle and SRB

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What’s next?

• VULCAN the other powerful laser• Target areas

• Need much more flexibility (new experiment every 6 weeks),• User friendliness (users change with each experiment),• Robustness and (lots of new users ),• Direct rewards (benefits for the user must be obvious and direct),• Data Rights.