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14-10-2020
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Tango Controls chosen for LOFAR2.0 Monitor & Control

Submitter: Arno Schoenmakers
Description: On Thursday September 25th, the LOFAR stakeholder board has decided that the LOFAR2.0 Monitor and Control system will be built using the Tango Controls framework.

The decision to use the Tango Controls framework (see https://www.tango-controls.org) has been the result of an extensive investigation and a comparison of the two final candidates. The first candidate was WinCC-OA, currently in use as monitoring and alarming system of LOFAR1 and APERTIF. The second candidate was Tango Controls, an open source SCADA system and Monitor and Control framework that has already been chosen by SKAO as Monitor and Control system framework for the SKA telescope and is used worldwide in particle physics and astronomical instruments.

A rigorous comparison process was set up in early April this year and concluded at the end of August. The resulting advice was to choose Tango Controls as M&C framework and the LOFAR stakeholder board decided to follow the advice.

The decision to implement the LOFAR2.0 Monitor and Control system software on top of the Tango Controls framework has mainly been driven by the modern object-oriented approach that the framework takes. This approach naturally leads to software component hierarchies in the Monitor and Control layers of the LOFAR2.0 telescope that respect very well the overall architecture and design. With a modern architecture based on Tango Controls the time to delivery will be shorter and the software will be much more maintainable and be ready for extension at all layers.

Tango Controls provides native Python3 support which is the de-facto language used in Astronomy. This allows us to create an open and low-threshold interface for LOFAR users that is not only convenient but also straight forward to use. Target audiences are, among Operators and Maintenance engineers, also our International Station owners; it will enable these groups to also create their own tooling, perfectly tailored to their needs.

Now that the decision has been made and is final, we can start building the Monitor and Control system software for LOFAR2.0 Station in all earnest and with proper focus. We have already been offered help from INAF, our new ILT partner. INAF has several groups that have extensive experience with developing software using the Tango Controls framework. By the end of this year INAF will contribute a full FTE software developer to join the Station's software team. INAF also already contributes significantly to LOFAR2.0's new RCU2 boards, so this will further improve the good working relationship with our partner.
Copyright: ASTRON / Tango Controls
 
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