Flexible configuration and monitor system for medium scale detector tests

The ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) project at CERN explores the fundamental properties of matter through heavy-ion collisions. During the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) long shutdown scheduled to start in 2027, the experiment will undergo the installation of new detector systems for expanding the current physics program. In particular, the FoCal (Forward Calorimeter) aims to enhance our understanding of small-x gluon distributions and investigate the dynamics of hadronic matter. This report presents the design and implementation of a comprehensive configuration and monitoring system for the FoCal project, with a particular focus on the versatile Parsing System and the intuitive web-based interface, called RuiGUI. The Parsing System, the central component of the system architecture, allows abstract and flexible configuration of different devices. Utilizing YAML files, detector experts define device properties and parsing rules, enabling the seamless integration of terminal-based and web-based data sources. This system efficiently extracts critical data from devices, ensuring accurate and reliable data collection. RuiGUI, the web-based interface, enables users to monitor and configure devices with ease. The interface features two tabs: Configurations, where users define variables to monitor and configure instances, and Visualization, which displays real-time insights into device status and performance. RuiGUI streamlines device oversight, and enhances operational robustness, ultimately contributing to improved data quality. The success of this project lies in the ability of the Parsing System to accommodate various devices and the user-friendly RuiGUI interface, providing detector experts and operators with tools for efficient device management. The ideal application of this solution is to simplify the characterization of medium-complexity systems. In fact, small systems don’t usually justify the use of a centralized control and monitoring interface. On the other hand, large systems have a dedicated Detector Control System (DCS), Medium scale systems, or prototypes of large detectors (as for the FoCal R&D) would benefit greatly from acentralized system, without compromising on the flexibility needed during the development phase.