Using Digital Pens for Physics

Francois Grey, CERN IT Department

mini-workshop on augmented paperOxford 27 September 2006

The LHC

27km circumference accelerator …

… maintained at -270C.

ATLAS

150 million sensors …

… read 40 million times per second.

LHC data

LHC data correspond to about 20 million CDs each year

Concorde(15 Km)

Balloon(30 Km)

CD stack with1 year LHC data!(~ 20 Km)

Mt. Blanc(4.8 Km)

Where will the experiments store all of

these data?

LHC processing

LHC data analysis requires a computing power equivalent to ~ 100,000 of today's fastest PC processors

Where will the experiments find such a computing power?

Computing for LHC

• Problem: even with Computer Centre upgrade, CERN can provide only a fraction of the necessary resources

• Solution: Computing centers, which were isolated in the past, will be connected, uniting the computing resources of particle physicists worldwide  

Europe: 267 institutes4603 users

Elsewhere: 208 institutes1632 users

Overview

• OpenLogbook: a new approach to recording and reviewing experiments

• Do particle physicists need digital pens? (Short answer: yes!)

• combining OpenLogbook and digital pens: results and prospects

openlogbook is an application for reviewing multi-dimensional data from different kinds of experiments.

Basic Philosophy: Store everything (on the Grid)review synchronised data, annotate online or offline with “hotspots”

Alpha-testers include:Fundamental science (ATHENA, CERN)Applied technology (MIC Cleanroom, Copenhagen)Social science (Imagination Lab, Lausanne)

What is OpenLogbook?

2001: OpenLogbook conception at Imagination Lab

2002: OpenLogbook V1.0 by student team at CERN, first test

2003: OpenLogbook V2.0 by student team in FinlandTested by nanotech lab, social scientist, ATHENA experimentATHENA requests integration of paper logbook into OpenLogbook

2004: Develop web-based sharing of HP digital pen data for ATHENASuccessful test of digital pen solution by ATHENA Develop digital paper guestbooks for CERN 50th anniversaryStudent team sponsored by HP

2005: Integrate HP digital paper solution with OpenLogbook V2.1

2006: Develop web-based sharing of IO2 digital pen dataDigital pen survey requested ATLAS experiment (>20 persons)Integrate IO2 solution with OpenLogbook V2.2

OpenLogbook History

Aug. 17, 2006

1 IO pen, 1 Black ‘N Red logbookSigrid Knoops, Cryo

April 12, 2006

1 IO2 pen, 1 Easybook M3 logbookGuiseppe Mornacchi,ATLAS

April 12, 2006

1 IO2 pen, 1 Easybook M3 logbookMarzio Nessi,ATLAS

April 12, 2006

1 IO2 pen, 1 Easybook M3 logbook 1 laptop (CARE006), 1 network cable

Markus Nordberg,ATLAS

April 10, 2006

1 IO2 pen, 1 Oxford Easybook M3 logbook

Ilias Efthymiopoulos,Accelerator Beams

DateMaterialManager

Deployment at ATLAS

…word of mouth leads to >15 more test users!

Three types of user:

Taking notes (managers) Covered by commercial notebook solutions

Data logging (technical staff) Covered by commercial forms solutions

Extension of e-log for sketching etc. (scientists) Potential for logbook (&OpenLogbook) solution

Results of Survey

Strengths

1) Sharing paper on web2) Portability of paper3) Recording of sketches

Weaknesses

1) No cut and paste solution2) Not available on MAC/Linux3) No annotation solution

– Use stroke time-stamping to integrate paper logbook completely

• Decode string in XML?

– Develop simple way of integrating pasted items • Print bar code?• Print on digital paper?• Use OpenLogbook for plots?

OpenLogbook Plans

Capture devices

GRID

ControlsStore the data

Read the data

. . .

OpenLogbook Plans

The openlogbook TeamMiika Tuisku, Antti Pirinen, Jonathan Beaudette + many summer students!

Scientific PartnersHelsinki Institute of PhysicsCERN openlab student programme (supported by HP)Michael Doser (ATHENA, CERN)Markus Nordberg (ATLAS, CERN)Johan Roos (Imagination Lab, Lausanne)Peter Boggild (MIC, Copenhagen)

Special Thanks toOlivier d’Eternod, Logitech (ATLAS pen study sponsor)Petter Ericson, Anoto (for inspiring us all!)

Acknowledgements