An introduction to plant monitoring through the EPICS control system

The experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) environment (1) provides the framework for monitoring any equipment connected to it. Various tools offer engineers and scientists the opportunity to easily create high-level monitoring applications without having to rely on expert programmers to develop custom programs. This paper is aimed at the first-time or casual user, providing essential information for using several of the tools. Examples are taken from applications in regular use the Advanced Photon Source (APS)