SIMS: The SLAC Industrial Measurement System

Kern was the first survey company to market an Industrial Measurement System when it released ECDS (Electronic Coordinate Determination System) in the mid-1980s. Originally written for the PDP-11, a version was later released for the PC (ECDS-PC). SLAC purchased this system in 1986 and immediately began to use it for the alignment of the SLC (Stanford Linear Collider). Although ECDS enabled SLAC to perform tasks with a speed never before achieved, they experienced limitations in the software. Since Kern proved unresponsive and SLAC was unable to purchase the source code for any amount of money, they set about writing their own portions of code. They first wrote a system of menus tailored for their specific alignment tasks, and disabled much of the ECDS menu structure. Due to dissatisfaction with the ECDS bundle adjustment program, they wrote their own bundle adjustment in 1988. A further step towarad having their own complete IMS was to develop a data capture program, a task which has been underway since the beginning of this year. They do not yet have data analysis features that are fully integrated, but they do have stand-alone packages that have been written at SLAC. When they first started tinkering with ECDS there was no intention of developing a complete system, but they now have all the elements of such a system - SIMS, the SLAC Industrial Measurement System