Every acronym and term used in this guide. EPICS conversations are dense with these, and nobody expands them.
ADCore — The core of areaDetector; the plugin framework all detector drivers build on.
ai / ao — Analog input / analog output record types. The most common record types in existence.
Alarm — A record’s abnormal-state indication, expressed as severity and status. Not the same as an interlock.
Alias — A second PV name for the same record, declared with alias(). Useful during renaming campaigns.
ALH — Alarm Handler. The legacy Motif alarm GUI, superseded by the Phoebus alarm system.
AOI — Area of interest. A cropped region of a detector image, in areaDetector terms.
APS — Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory. Co-birthplace of EPICS.
Archiver Appliance — The scalable EPICS archiver, originally from SLAC, now community-maintained.
AS / ASG / ACF — Access Security; Access Security Group; Access Configuration File. EPICS’s built-in write-permission mechanism.
asyn — The universal I/O abstraction module. Serial, TCP, UDP, GPIB, USB, and the asynPortDriver C++ base class.
Autosave — Module that periodically writes PV values to disk and restores them at IOC boot.
Base — EPICS Base. The core: build system, libraries, protocol implementations, standard record types, softIoc.
BEAST — Best Ever Alarm System Toolkit. The CS-Studio-era alarm system; its successor is the Kafka-based Phoebus alarm system.
Bluesky — Experiment orchestration framework from NSLS-II. Python; sits above EPICS.
BPM — Beam Position Monitor. In light sources, typically a four-button electrode assembly plus digitiser electronics.
BSA / BSAS — Beam Synchronous Acquisition (SLAC). Timestamp-correlated data capture across many IOCs.
bi / bo — Binary input / binary output record types. One bit, two states, named strings for each.
CA — Channel Access. The original EPICS network protocol.
caget / caput / camonitor / cainfo — The Channel Access command-line tools. See the cheat sheet.
calc / calcout — Record types evaluating an arithmetic/logical expression over up to twelve inputs. calcout can also write an output and act on a delay.
caLab — LabVIEW Channel Access bindings.
caproto — Pure-Python Channel Access implementation, client and server.
caPutLog — Module that logs every Channel Access write: who, from where, old value, new value.
caQtDM — Qt-based display manager; reads MEDM .adl files. Popular at PSI and in Europe.
CATCA / CAJ — Java Channel Access implementations, now inside epicsCoreJava.
ChannelFinder — Directory service mapping PV names to properties and tags.
CS-Studio — Control System Studio. The Eclipse-based toolset; its modern, Eclipse-free successor is Phoebus.
CPMU — Cryogenic Permanent Magnet Undulator. An insertion device cooled to ~80 K for higher field.
DAQ — Data acquisition.
DBD — Database Definition file. Declares record types, device supports, drivers, and menus available to an IOC.
dbior / dbl / dbpr / dbtr — IOC shell commands: report driver state, list records, print a record, test-process a record.
DBWR — Display Builder Web Runtime. Renders Phoebus displays in a browser.
DCCT — DC Current Transformer. Measures stored beam current non-destructively.
Device support — The layer adapting a record type to a device class, selected by the DTYP field.
DTYP — Device TYPe: the record field naming which device support to use.
e3 — ESS EPICS Environment. ESS’s module build and deployment framework.
EDM — Extensible Display Manager. Legacy Motif OPI tool; still in production at several labs.
EGU — Engineering UnitS. The record field holding the unit string.
ELOG — Electronic logbook, PSI’s implementation.
Emittance — Beam phase-space area. Lower is better for a light source; the figure of merit for 4th-generation rings.
epicsdeb — Debian/Ubuntu packaging of EPICS Base and modules.
epics-containers — Container-based IOC deployment framework from Diamond Light Source; includes ibek and PVI.
ESS — European Spallation Source, Lund, Sweden.
ether_ip — Allen-Bradley ControlLogix/CompactLogix driver speaking EtherNet/IP.
EVG / EVR — Event Generator / Event Receiver. Timing system hardware, typically Micro-Research Finland, driven by mrfioc2.
FLNK — Forward LiNK. The record field naming the next record to process after this one.
FOFB — Fast Orbit Feedback. kHz-rate closed loop holding the electron beam position stable. FPGA-based; EPICS configures and monitors it.
Front end — In a light source, the shielded assembly between the storage ring and a beamline: shutters, slits, masks, absorbers, valves.
Gateway — A process bridging two network segments at the CA or PVA level, usually adding access control and reducing server load.
ibek — IOC Builder for EPICS and Kubernetes. Generates st.cmd from YAML.
ID — Insertion Device. An undulator or wiggler in a straight section; the light source for most beamlines.
INVALID — The alarm severity meaning “this value cannot be trusted”. Not a magnitude.
I/O Intr — A SCAN value: process when the driver says there’s new data, rather than on a clock.
IOC — Input/Output Controller. A process that owns PVs and serves them on the network.
iocStats / devIocStats — Module exposing IOC health as PVs: CPU, memory, uptime, CA client count.
ipac — IndustryPack carrier support for VME. Legacy but alive.
JCA — Java Channel Access.
LLRF — Low-Level RF. The control loops regulating cavity amplitude and phase. FPGA-based; EPICS sets points and reads diagnostics.
Lewis — Device simulation framework — pretends to be an instrument on a TCP or serial port.
MASAR — MAchine Snapshot, Archiving, and Retrieval. An earlier save/restore service.
MBA — Multi-Bend Achromat. The lattice design that defines 4th-generation storage rings.
mbbi / mbbo — Multi-Bit Binary In / Out. Enumerated record types: up to sixteen named states.
MEDM — Motif Editor and Display Manager. The original EPICS OPI tool; .adl files. Largely superseded, widely still installed.
Modbus — Industrial protocol (TCP and serial) with an EPICS module of the same name.
motor — The motion control module. Provides the motor record and dozens of controller drivers.
MPS — Machine Protection System. Protects equipment from beam. Not EPICS. See machine protection.
mrfioc2 — Driver for Micro-Research Finland timing hardware.
NDArray / NDPlugin — areaDetector’s image buffer type and its plugin base class.
NeXus — HDF5-based scientific data format standard for neutron, X-ray and muon science.
Normative types — The standard PV Access structure definitions (NTScalar, NTNDArray, NTTable, …) that make structured data interoperable.
NSLS-II — National Synchrotron Light Source II, Brookhaven.
Olog — Electronic logbook integrated with Phoebus.
ophyd / ophyd-async — Bluesky’s device abstraction layer; wraps EPICS PVs as Python objects with a uniform interface.
OPI — Operator Interface. A screen; also the file format thereof (Phoebus .bob, older .opi).
OPC UA — Industrial interoperability standard; the EPICS opcua module is a client for it.
p4p — Python bindings to PVA, built on PVXS. Includes a PVA gateway and server.
pcaspy — Python Channel Access server framework. Quick fake IOCs.
PPS — Personnel Protection System. Life safety. Certified PLCs and hard-wired logic. Absolutely not EPICS.
procServ — Process supervisor giving an IOC a telnet-accessible console and automatic restart.
PV — Process Variable.
pvAccess / PVA — The EPICS 7 network protocol.
pvaPy — Python bindings to the C++ pvAccess implementation.
pva2pva — The original PVA-to-PVA gateway; superseded in practice by the p4p gateway.
PVI — Process Variable Interface. Generates screens and device docs from one device description.
pvinfo — Web front end to ChannelFinder.
PVWS — PV Web Socket. WebSocket bridge exposing PVs to browsers.
PVXS — The modern C++ PVA library. Replaces pvAccessCPP for new work.
pyDevice — Module letting record processing call Python inside the IOC.
PyDM — Python Display Manager from SLAC. PyQt-based OPI toolkit.
PyEpics — The most widely used Python CA client library.
pythonSoftIOC — Diamond’s library for writing a real IOC in Python.
RDB archiver — The Phoebus archive engine writing to a relational database.
Record — The implementation of a PV inside an IOC.
recsync / RecCaster / RecCeiver — The module by which IOCs self-report their record lists into ChannelFinder.
RTOS — Real-Time Operating System. RTEMS and VxWorks are the EPICS-supported ones.
Save & restore — Capturing and reapplying sets of PV values. Phoebus service at facility level; autosave inside an IOC.
SCAN — The record field controlling when a record processes.
Scan server — Phoebus service executing experiment scan sequences.
SEVR / STAT — The record fields holding current alarm severity and status.
SNL / seq — State Notation Language and the Sequencer. A C-like language for finite state machines running inside an IOC.
SNS — Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge. Source of much EPICS training material and many services.
Soft IOC — An IOC with no local hardware I/O.
sscan — Module implementing multi-dimensional scans entirely inside the IOC.
SSA — Solid State Amplifier. Modern replacement for klystrons in storage ring RF.
StreamDevice — Protocol-description-driven device support. Talk to an ASCII instrument without writing C.
st.cmd — An IOC’s startup script.
Substitutions / template — The macro-expansion mechanism for instantiating many similar records.
synApps — Curated collection of EPICS modules from APS/BCDA, released as a tested set.
Tiled — Data access service from the Bluesky project.
Top-up — Injecting electrons into a storage ring every few minutes to hold current constant, rather than refilling from empty.
VDCT — Visual Database Configuration Tool. Graphical .db editor; Java, legacy, still used.
VME / VXI / MTCA — Crate standards for control and diagnostics electronics. MicroTCA is the modern choice for fast diagnostics.
waveform — The record type holding an array.
Xopt / Badger / Ocelot — Optimisation and online-tuning frameworks that drive accelerators through EPICS.