At Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, accelerator operators perform tasks in their areas of specialization in addition to their machine operations duties. One crucial area in which operators contribute is software development. Operators with programming skills are uniquely qualified to develop certain controls applications because of their expertise in the day-to-day operation of the accelerator. Jefferson Lab is one of the few laboratories that utilizes the skills and knowledge of operators to create software that enhances machine operations. Through the programs written; by operators, Jefferson Lab has improved machine efficiency and beam availability. Because many of these applications involve automation of procedures and need graphical user interfaces, the scripting language Tcl and the Tk toolkit have been adopted. In addition to automation, some operator-developed applications are used for information distribution. For this purpose, several standard web development tools such as perl, VBScript, and ASP are used. Examples of applications written by operators include injector steering, spin angle changes, system status reports, magnet cycling routines, and quantum efficiency measurements. This paper summarizes how the unique knowledge of accelerator operators has contributed to the success of the Jefferson Lab control system.

Work performed for the U.S. Department of Energy by the Southeastern Universities Research Association under contract DE-AC05-84ER40150.

Authors: April Miller, Michele Joyce, Shannan Krause

Submitted for ICALEPCS 2001, San Jose, CA, Nov. 27-30 2001

Updated April 18, 2001

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