All In-Kind Contributions for the construction phase of the ESS Integrated Control Systems (ICS) have been received, commissioned and deployed, completing the collaborative effort to build the digital backbone of ESS. This achievement reflects years of European collaboration in building the control infrastructure that enables ESS’s complex systems to operate as one.
The ESS Integrated Control System (ICS) provides the software and hardware frameworks that connect and monitor thousands of devices and sensors across the facility – over 10 million signals and data points in all.
Henrik Carling, Head of the ICS Division, describes the scope, “In essence, ICS forms the digital backbone of ESS, enabling coordinated control, monitoring, and automation across one of the world’s most advanced scientific facilities. It includes the overarching EPICS control system, timing and synchronisation networks, personnel safety and machine protection systems, and a wide range of software, servers, network devices, and control racks.”
Throughout the construction phase, in-kind contributions have been crucial in realising the full scope of the ICS. As for other ESS cutting-edge components, partner institutes across Europe have delivered key hardware and software systems that underpin the facility’s control and protection infrastructure.
The contributions reflect the diversity of expertise and institutions needed to build this complex system: CEA (France), ESS Bilbao (Spain), IFE (Norway), INFN-Legnaro (Italy), PSI and ZHAW (Switzerland), STFC-Daresbury (UK), Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia), and Technical University of Łódź (Poland).
Together, these deliveries have played a vital role in the core control, timing, safety, and data systems that make ESS an integrated, safe and reliable facility.
According to Mark Robinson, head of the In-Kind Management Division at ESS, “Completing the ICS construction phase is not only a significant technical achievement but also a testament to European collaboration and shared expertise, laying a robust foundation for the operation and support of ESS as we move towards operations.”
The most significant in-kind contributions to the ESS Integrated Control System include:
- CEA (France) – Control systems for the ion source, Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT), and Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ), essential for the early stages of accelerator operation.
- ESS Bilbao (Spain) – EPICS integration of Medium Energy Beam Transport (MEBT) systems, linking accelerator sections.
- IFE (Norway) – Main control room design and implementation. Control system servers, storage, and network infrastructure. Control software components such as logbook and alarm management systems that support daily operations.
- INFN-Legnaro (Italy) – Control systems for the Drift Tube Linac (DTL).
- STFC-Daresbury (United Kingdom) – Detector control software, enhancing interfaces between accelerator and instrument control environments.
- Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) – Timing and synchronisation systems, Ethercat-based electronics development and EPICS integration, ensuring precise coordination and secure control across all facility systems.
- University of Łódź (Poland) – MicroTCA hardware components for high performance controls applications. IPMI monitoring software. Controls development and integration for beam loss monitors.
- ZHAW and PSI (Switzerland) – Machine protection system architecture and core components ensuring optimised beam production of the facility. High-performance MicroTCA hardware systems and components for control and instrumentation across the facility.
