At the APS I would say that as far as I know no beamlines rely on
accurate timestamps from the accelerator timing system. The
timestamps that the beamlines are using are based on NTP timing, so
are probably good to a few ms?
What the beamlines do use are hardware timing signals that allow
experiments to synchronize to the ring electron bunch structure.
There is one signal that is a pulse at the ring frequency (orbital
period) and another that gives a pulse for each bunch in the ring.
These are used to synchronize lasers, fast shutters, fast detectors,
etc.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Márcio Paduan
Donadio
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2016 1:27 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Márcio Paduan Donadio
Subject: Opinion on timing system for synchrotron beamlines
I'd like to know your experience regarding integration of the
accelerator timing system with the beamlines:
- Which accelerator events are useful for the beamlines' control
system.
- Do the beamlines use a global and very precise timestamp sent
from the accelerator timing system? What is the time precision?
- Do you think that a PTP system is sufficient for timestamping
experiments in beamlines?
- What is the EPICS role regarding such a timing system?
Thank you,
