CERN Gets Reliable Data Access Down to a Science Using Terracotta

Physicists at CERN conduct extensive experiments using particle accelerators. A variety of process visualization and control systems is used to monitor the equipment, including the TIM system and Diagnostics and Monitoring (DIAMON). TIM monitors around 120,000 sensors in such areas as building services engineering, while DIAMON monitors some of the equipment and IT components related to the particle accelerators. Technicians and engineers at the control stations have dashboards that show the status of the systems; the dashboards are continuously updated based on the data from the monitoring systems. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance to CERN to operate the monitoring platforms in the most fail-safe way possible. Because these systems play the role of a control center, unexpected occurrences, power outages and major accidents result in a large number of events. One of the requirements for the implementation was that the incoming data could be processed in less than one second. Even during the greatest peaks, the infrastructure must be stable enough to handle the large number of status messages and help the staff in the control center and engineers troubleshooting the systems.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world’s largest particle physics research center. Scientists from around the world conduct high-energy physics experiments at CERN using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator and other equipment. Twenty member states and about 3,200 employees make it possible to analyze groundbreaking research projects on subjects such as the structure of matter. The organization operates a variety of process visualization and control systems to monitor the equipment, including the Technical Infrastructure Monitoring (TIM) system and Diagnostics and Monitoring (DIAMON).