Time protocol for time-of-flight instruments

Abstract

Presented herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable media for recording event times in particle detection scenarios. The systems, methods, and computer-readable media involve the identification of one facility device as a grandmaster clock among at least two facility devices of a facility device set, where the respective facility devices are selected from a facility device type set including a beam monitor; a neutron instrument; a neutron chopper; a nuclear reactor; a particle accelerator; a network router; and a user workstation. The system, method, and computer-readable medium also involve configuring the facility devices to synchronize a clock component with the grandmaster clock; and, upon detecting an event, retrieve from the clock component of the selected facility device an absolute event timestamp that is independent of event times of other events, and store a record of the facility event and the absolute event timestamp in a data store.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for configuring a particle detector facility to record event times within a particle facility, the system comprising:
 a grandmaster clock designating component that causes a set of facility devices to identify one facility device of the particle facility as a grandmaster clock; and   a clock synchronizing component comprising instructions that:
 synchronizes a clock component with the grandmaster clock; and 
 upon detecting an event:
 retrieves from the clock component of the selected facility device an absolute event timestamp that is independent of event times of other events; and 
 records the event with the absolute event timestamp. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein respective facility devices within the set comprise at least one of:
 a beam monitor facility device;   a neutron instrument facility device;   a neutron chopper facility device;   a nuclear reactor facility device;   a particle accelerator facility device;   a network router facility device; and   a user workstation facility device.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the event arising within the particle detector facility is selected from an event set comprising:
 an experiment initiation event;   an experiment completion event;   a particle emission event;   a particle collision event; and   a particle detection event.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , synchronizing with the grandmaster clock further comprising: communicating with the grandmaster clock through an Ethernet network connection according to a transmission control protocol (TCP) to synchronize the clock component of the selected facility device with the grandmaster clock. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , synchronizing with the grandmaster clock further comprising: synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the clock component of the grandmaster clock according to a precision time protocol (PTP) synchronization technique. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 at least one facility device comprising a master clock is further configured to synchronize a clock component of the master clock with the grandmaster clock; and   synchronizing with the grandmaster clock further comprises: synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the clock component of the master clock.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the selected facility device further comprises a master clock; and   the instructions of the clock synchronizing component are further configured to, upon receiving, from a second facility device of the particle detector facility, a request to synchronize a second clock component of the second facility device with the clock component of the master clock, synchronize the clock component of the master clock with the second clock component of the second facility device.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions of the clock synchronizing component are further configured to, upon detecting a divergence of the clock component and at least one other clock component of at least one other facility device, resynchronize the clock component of the selected facility device with the grandmaster clock. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions of the clock synchronizing component are further configured to, after resynchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the grandmaster clock, resynchronize the clock component of the selected facility device with a second clock component of a second facility device of the particle detector facility. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions of the clock synchronizing component are further configured to:
 detect at least one event property of the event; and   record the event property with the event and the absolute event timestamp in a data store.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein identifying one facility device of the particle facility as the grandmaster clock further comprises:
 interoperating with at least one remote device of the facility device set to identify an automated consensus indicating a selection of a selected device of the facility device set to be identified as the grandmaster clock.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein recording the absolute event timestamp further comprises: storing, in a local data store, a record of the event that comprises additional information about the absolute event timestamp that comprises at least one of:
 a precision of the absolute event timestamp; and   an accuracy of the absolute event timestamp with respect to the grandmaster clock.   
     
     
         13 . A method of configuring a particle detector facility to record event times, the method comprising:
 among at least two facility devices of a facility device set of the particle detector facility, identifying one facility device as a grandmaster clock; and   configure the respective selected facility devices to:
 synchronize a clock component with the grandmaster clock; and 
 upon detecting an event:
 retrieve from the clock component of the selected facility device an absolute event timestamp that is independent of event times of other events; and 
 record the event and the absolute event timestamp of the event. 
 
   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 respective selected devices further comprise an Ethernet network connection; and   synchronizing with the grandmaster clock further comprises: communicating with the grandmaster clock through the Ethernet network connection according to a transmission control protocol (TCP) to synchronize the clock component of the selected facility device with the grandmaster clock.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 the Ethernet network connection further comprises a power over Ethernet (PoE) channel; and   the selected facility device further comprises at least one device component configured to receive power from the power over Ethernet channel of the Ethernet network connection.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the clock component of the grandmaster clock further comprising: synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the grandmaster clock according to a precision time protocol (PTP) synchronization technique. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein:
 at least one selected facility device further comprises a master clock having a second clock component and configured to synchronize the second clock component of the master clock with the grandmaster clock; and   synchronizing the clock components of at least one selected facility device further comprises: synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the second clock component of the master clock.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein:
 at least two facility devices of the particle detector facility are identified as master clock respectively associated with at least one other facility device; and   synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device further comprises: synchronizing the clock component of the selected facility device with the second clock component of a selected master clock that is associated with the selected facility device.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: configuring at least one selected facility device to, upon detecting a deviance of the clock component of the selected facility device and a second clock component of at least one other facility device, communicate with the grandmaster clock to resynchronize the clock component of the selected facility device with the grandmaster clock. 
     
     
         20 . A sensor device of a particle detector facility, comprising:
 a sensor that detects instances of a particle event arising within the particle detector facility;   a local clock; and   an event recorder that:
 identifies the remote clock of the remote device of the particle facility as a grandmaster clock; 
 synchronizes the clock component with a grandmaster clock of the particle facility; and 
 receives, from the sensor, a notification of a detection of an instance of the particle event; 
 retrieves, from the local clock, an absolute event timestamp that is independent of event times of other events; and 
 records the event with the absolute event timestamp retrieved from the local clock.