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====== History of development ======

<box 80% red>The cycle of works « Program complexes Sonix and Sonix + for instrument control at the IBR-2 reactor» is awarded with 1 premium at competition of scientific, methodical and applied works at FLNP in section « Applied and methodical works » in 2005.
</box>

{{:group_3.png |}}

Group of developers:

**Kirilov A.S., Murashkevich S.M., Petukhova Т.B., Yudin V.E.**

We are grateful to:

**Heinitz J., Litvinenko E.I., Prickhodko V.I., Nikiforov A.S., Sirotin A.P., Korobchenko M.L., Levchanovski F.V., Drozdov V.A., Butenko V.A.
**

Software complex Sonix (SOftware for Neutron Instruments on X11 base) was initially developed for the Neutron Spectrometer with High Resolution(for VME-computer in the [[wpru>OS-9|OS-9]]environment) at the IBR-2 reactor. Since that it was significantly improved and installed at the most IBR-2 instruments. 
[[http://flnp.jinr.ru|FLNP]].
====== Sonix milestones ======

**1995.** The first control system based on the modular VME-computer with operational system OS-9 has been created at the NSHR diffractometer at the  IBR-2 reactor.  The NSHR complex is organized as a community of  X-clients implemented on the base of  X11/OS-9 package. Simple script interpreter was included.
**1997-1998.** Complex is installed at SKAT, NERA-PR and Epsilon instruments.
**1999-2002.** Complex was modified greatly and installed at YuMO, DN-2, SPN, DN-12, FSD and HRFD instruments. 

Main improvements are:
  * former X-clients were separated into "resident" and "interface" parts;
  * use of a real time database (Varman from IRI TU Delft) for module communication;
  * script language enhancements.


 
A script file is provided. Script interpreter is 
Modules have two modes: ‘manual’ and ‘auto’ for script control
A local version is the same as distributed
Clients are configured by a common configuration file.


====== Basic Sonix features ======

    * The VME computer is used for the whole job
    * The complex has modular structure. Each module completely controls a single spectrometer unit (goniometer etc.)
    * [[wpru>Graphical_user_interface|GUI]] modules (interfaces) were separated
    * The inter-client communication is implemented with Varman real time database([[http://wwwinfo.jinr.ru/publish/Preprints/2003/011(P13-2003-11).pdf|Varman]])
    * Clients are configured by a common configuration file.
    * Modules have two modes: ‘manual’ and ‘auto’ for script control
    * A local version is the same as distributed
    * In case of fatal error system automatically restarted to continue mesurement 
    * Private script generators and tuning programs are present

====== From Sonix to Sonix+  ======
**//PC(Windows) vs. VME(OS-9//)**
  * Using PC with Windows for instrument control reduces the overall costs of the system
  * Users are more experienced with the Windows environment
  * Many useful software products are available

//**Sonix disadvantages**//
  * GUI - many windows to control complicated systems
  * No common protocol for module communication 
  * The script language is rather poor
  * The configuration file is too complicated to edit manually

  * In **2003** -- Sonix+ was initiated
  * In **2004** – It was installed at NERA-PR?, REMUR and YuMO instruments (IBR-2)
  * In **2005** – Versions for YuMO (IBR-2) and DSD (Yekaterinburg) instruments are ready to use
  * In **2007** - the complex was installed at the GEK3 и GEK5 instriuments(Obninsk) and MOND instrument ([[wpru>Курчатовский_институт|Moscow, Kurchatov institute]])

====== Sonix+ benefits ======

    * The user works with devices not with modules
    * Creating virtual devices and representing several devices as a single device became possible
    * Module (device) communication is completely standardized 
    * [[wpru>Python_(programming_language)|Python]] is used as the script language
    * Clog file are included
    * Two data format are used: internal format for storing of intermediate data, user format - for final accumulation
    * [[wpru>Graphical_user_interface|GUI]] is unified and became more convenient
    * Visualization of the data from is included [[dotdetector|point]], [[detector1D|1D]] и [[detector2D|2D detectors]] were included
    * The complex is implemented in the Windows environment

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 --- //[[akirilov@nf.jinr.ru|AK]] 9.09.2009//