CERN Safety Alarm System Supervisory Board

04.07.2002
Subjects:
Author: Uwe Epting
Participants: Pal ANDERSSEN (IT), Uwe EPTING (ST) (Secretary), Pierre NININ (ST), Keith POTTER (EST Board member), Helmut SCHONBACHER (TIS) (Chairman), Luigi SCIBILE (ST), Vincent VUILLEMIN (EP, replacing R. VOSS), Wolfgang WEINGARTEN (TIS)
Distribution: Participants, Paolo CIRIANI (ST), Manuel DELFINO (IT), Lyn EVANS (DG), Paul FAUGERAS (AC), Andre FAUGIER (AC), Silvia GRAU (ST), Dietrich GUSEWELL (EST), Philippe LEBRUN (LHC), Jurgen MAY (DG), Steve MYERS (SL), Rui NUNES (ST), Paul PROUDLOCK (AC), Alberto SCARAMELLI (ST), Dieter SCHLATTER (EP), Rudiger VOSS (EP Board member), Carlo WYSS (DG)

Comments on the minutes of the 6th meeting

The document from W. Weingarten, as regards "Mr. Alarm", should be distributed as a paper version and will be attached to the latest minutes. L. Scibile should have been invited to the TIS Safety Coordination meeting by W. Weingarten to present the CSAM project web page. This will be done after the summer holiday period.

Clarification of network design

Pal Anderssen presented the "new" technical network for the CERN sites and the LHC. LHC will have a redundant network and the first part (surface) is expected to be installed by the end of 2002. Two technical solutions for the site network have been proposed but are not approved yet. No funding is available until now for this part of the network. There is no planning as to when the funding will be clear and how the situation can be solved from the IT/CS side.
The technical network will replace the currently existing LEP/SPS control network. IT/CS proposes to use this network for the CSAM data transmission.
It is foreseen to use the General Purpose Network and the New Technical Network as redundant transmission paths for CSAM. Each of the networks will also be redundant in itself. The CSAM team collaborates closely with IT/CS and discusses the network proposals. Although the original proposal to have a dedicated network for safety data has not been kept, it seems that this proposal could fulfil the requirements. The main difference is the bandwidth and availability of these networks for safety data as they are shared with other users. It is still under investigation if this proposal is SIL-2 compliant and thus can be accepted by the Safety Alarm System Supervisory Board.

Another open question is the CSAM contractor's responsibility in case of (network) problems.
A dedicated meeting with a representative from the Safety Alarm System Supervisory Board, IT/CS and ST/MA will be scheduled to clarify the open questions.

CSAM status report

Luigi Scibile presented the status changes that have happened since the last supervisory board. The detailed specification has been completed by the contractor and the Human Machine Interface proposal validated by the fire brigade, TIS and the TCR.
SCADA evaluation: the performance and reliability tests with PVSS have not been successful and thus the CSAM contractor was forced to start an evaluation for acceptable SCADA products that fulfil the requirements. The requirements have been sent to six product manufacturers. Two products are in the final selection after the performance and reliability tests have been completed. Currently the comparison evaluation is underway and results will be completed by mid-July.
The CSAM planning was realigned to the updated LHC planning in order to optimise costs and the spending profile of the project. The pilot installation is foreseen for Feb/March 2003. It will run "in the background" until June 2003 when the reception test will be done. If the acceptance is successful the CSAM system will become operational in the SCR and TCR. All CERN safety zones will be integrated completely in CSAM when the system will become operational. Thus it is not foreseen to have two parallel systems for the fire brigade.

SCADA performance tests

The status report was covered by the CSAM status report. However, the Board discussed at length and expressed its unhappiness with the apparently unavoidable conclusion that the CERN standard SCADA cannot be used. K. Potter said he would like to know the opinion of JCOP and proposed to invite the JCOP chairman to a future meeting. H. Schonbacher rejected this suggestion on the grounds that it would only confuse further an already very difficult situation and as long as the chosen SCADA is fully compatible with other CERN systems there would be no problem for CSAM. It was confirmed that complete compatibility with standard CERN systems would be fully taken into account.

Consequences on budget cuts

Currently both proposals for the "new" technical network are not funded. An action plan to get a decision on how the necessary money will be found is not yet established. The CSAM project asked also for a dedicated network that has a very simple architecture and will be used for safety data exclusively. This request has not been considered until now due to financial aspects.

A.O.B.

  1. 1.1. Review of Recommendations for the Safety Alarm System (Memo L. Evans 27.11.1998)

    General recommendations that have been written in 20.11.1998 have been distributed and will be discussed by the Safety Alarm System Supervisory Board members internally. They will give a statement for discussion in the next meeting. Nevertheless all participants are invited to give their comments to the board members.

  2. 1.2. Functional Specification "Systemes Generaux de Securite du LHC"

    The document is not yet approved officially and is still open for comments. The document is available in EDMS with the document number 346512.

created at Mon Jul 29 12:09:19 METDST 2002 with the ST/MO/IN - Minutes Maker