Glossary

Glossary

EPICS

EPICS is a software framework for controlling devices and is the underlying framework for the IBEX server. See http://www.aps.anl.gov/epics/

PV (Process Variable)

This is a named piece of information in the EPICS system, such as a temperature setpoint or readback. A PV will have a name of the form IN:LARMOR:MOT:MTR0101 for a motor

Block

This is a named piece of information created by the user as part of an instrument configuration. A block is essentially an alias to a process variable. A block can have logging enabled and will then appear in the final data file.

Client Server

IBEX, like :term:`EPICS`, is a client-server system. In such systems background processes (servers) provide information for clients (such as a GUI or command line). Multiple clients can communicate with a single server process over the network.

Blockserver

This is a :term:`Server` element of the IBEX control system that is responsible for managing a :term:`Block` and also a :term:`Configuration`

Configuration

A configuration defines the blocks, IOCs, macros and other items needed to control the instrument. More specifically, a configuration is an information structure which defines and describes an instrument to IBEX.

IOC

An IOC (Input/Output Controller) is an :term:`EPICS` process that provides some service, often managing a device. For example, access to a Eurotherm temperature controller is controlled via an IOC process that provides :term:`Process Variable` for the relevant control elements