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Large
Experimental Physics facilities cannot operate without their control
systems. As the size and complexity of these facilities grow, so
too do the size and complexity of control systems and the demands
and expectations on those systems. Using the newest computer and
communications technologies, and always pushing the “state-of-the-art,”
these systems are designed, built and commissioned by an international
community of control system experts. After their meetings in Villars,
Vancouver, Tsukuba, Berlin, Chicago, Beijing, Trieste, San Jose,
Gyeongju and Geneva, those experts are poised to meet once again
at the eleventh in the series of International Conferences on Accelerator
and Large Experimental Physics Control Systems – ICALEPCS
2007 – in Knoxville, Tennessee, October 15 – 19, 2007.
Between 250 and 300 are expected to participate. The Conference
Chair is Dave Gurd, Controls group leader at the Spallation Neutron
Source in Oak Ridge and the Program Chair is Karen White, project
manager for instrumentation and controls for the Jefferson Lab 12
GeV upgrade project.
Following the tradition of previous conferences, ICALEPCS 2007 will
focus on technologies and issues in the development of control systems
for large experimental physics projects, including accelerators,
telescopes, high-energy physics detectors, fusion devices (inertial
and magnetic, but not cold) and space probes. The demanding requirements
and growing complexity of many new projects currently planned or
under construction around the world present new challenges in the
controls field. These projects include the International Linear
Collider (ILC), third and fourth generation light sources, huge
new detectors for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, high
intensity and heavy ion accelerators, fusion devices such as the
National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the US and Megajoule and ITER
in France, as well as increasingly sophisticated telescopes and
space probes. At the same time, the extremely rapid development
of hardware, software and communications technology offers to the
community an ever-changing variety of tools to address these challenges.
All this is the subject matter of ICALEPCS.
Control system software toolkits, communication protocols, fieldbuses,
feedback, timing and synchronization, data and database management,
configuration management, high-level applications, the use of industrial
controls, outsourcing, upgrading of operating facilities, computer
and network security, model-based control and much more have been
topics for presentation and discussion at meetings past. Many of
the largest new projects will be built as national or international
collaborations which presents particularly interesting challenges
to the systems designed for integration – the control systems
– and to their managers.
The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Knoxville,
Tennessee. Whereas ICALEPCS 2005 was held in Geneva near the Alps
– one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world, Knoxville
is nestled at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains – the
oldest range of mountains in the world. In October these ancient
hills show their spectacular fall colors, attracting tourists from
around the world. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the
most visited park in the US, and nearby Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge
feature famous tourist and shopping areas. The region is well-known
for its Bluegrass Music and for hometown favorite Dolly Parton.
As in the past, the Conference will feature a vendor exhibit. Because
of the narrow focus of ICALEPCS on control systems and related technologies,
vendors with hardware or software products related to this area
will find an audience almost all of whom will be interested in their
products. Satellite meetings arranged so far include meetings of
the EPICS and Tango Collaborations, a workshop on computer security
as it relates to control systems, and a low-level RF workshop to
be held in the same hotel the following week. Further information
about ICALEPCS 2007 can be found at www.sns.gov/icalepcs07.
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