Speaker
Description
LIPAc, the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator, is being constructed at the QST Rokkasho Institute for Fusion Energy, Aomori, under the Broader Approach agreement between Europe and Japan. The project is currently moving towards Phase C, which includes the installation and validation of the SRF acceleration stage in the beamline, with the start of cryogenic cooldown approaching.
This maintenance period provides an opportunity to upgrade and modernize other machine systems, both hardware and software, without disrupting the overall project schedule. One of the main areas requiring modernization is the Operator Interfaces (OPI). Until now, LIPAc has primarily relied on the classic Control System Studio (CSS), together with a non-optimal OPI folder structure. To improve performance, reliability, and long-term maintainability, the control system is being progressively migrated to Phoebus, together with a new hierarchical organization of the OPI applications.
In parallel, the Instrumentation and Control systems are being upgraded from EPICS 3 to EPICS 7, enabling compatibility with Debian 13, which has been adopted as the new standard operating system. Additionally, soft IOCs are being migrated to Podman containers running on Debian 13 VMs in a Proxmox cluster with high availability, providing a more consistent, maintainable, and reliable deployment environment.
This presentation will describe the present status of these modernization activities. The main challenges encountered during the transition will also be presented, together with the solutions and lessons learned from their implementation.