The ALICE-HMPID Detector Control System: Its evolution towards an expert and adaptive system

The High Momentum Particle IDentification (HMPID) detector is a proximity focusing Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) for charged hadron identification. The HMPID is based on liquid C6F14 as the radiator medium and on a 10 m2 CsI coated, pad segmented photocathode of MWPCs for UV Cherenkov photon detection. To ensure full remote control, the HMPID is equipped with a detector control system (DCS) responding to industrial standards for robustness and reliability. It has been implemented using PVSS as Slow Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) environment, Programmable Logic Controller as control devices and Finite State Machines for modular and automatic command execution. In the perspective of reducing human presence at the experiment site, this paper focuses on DCS evolution towards an expert and adaptive control system, providing, respectively, automatic error recovery and stable detector performance. HAL9000, the first prototype of the HMPID expert system, is then presented. Finally an analysis of the possible application of the adaptive features is provided.