Dialog

This paper presents the last upgrade of the SPS accelerator to become an injector for LEP, which led to an even more complex machine with the implementation of cycle to cycle modulation (multicycling) and the increased use of microprocessors. This reinforced the need for an automated diagnosis system for instrumentation. The Dialog system provides the required functionality, relying on programs residing in the equipment to be diagnosed and others distributed over the SPS network. The diagnosis is conducted by a supervisor running on a personal computer that interacts in real-time with the instrumentation equipment. The system is able to diagnose multiple crates of the same type at once. In case of failures, corrective actions can be specified, including the location of spares which is fetched from a database