Laboratory of Software Engineering for Scientific Applications (LILAS)

The main purpose of the group in charge of software engineering for scientific applications (Lilas) is to develop the software tools and modules needed by the physics experiments in which Irfu is involved. Software modules play an ever increasing role in the systems developed by Irfu for its scientific projects and they are also expected to address ever increasing demands for performance, durability and reliability. The vocation of Lilas is therefore to maintain inside the Institute and over many years a pool of advanced technological skills that are most relevant to the projects in which Irfu is involved.

Consequently, apart from the proper design and implementation activities directly linked to the projects, the group needs to maintain R&D and technological watch activities allowing its engineers to acquire and expand cutting edge techniques, tools and methodologies in order to rationalize and professionalize the production of software for scientific systems.

Figure 1 : Visualization of cosmic currents in the local universe by the the SD-Vision software, developed at Lilas

In the course of their development of software modules and systems covering the multiple aspects of scientific projects, the engineers of the Lilas group need to maintain extensive relationships and exchanges, not only with their counterparts from international collaborations, but also with the physics experts, engineers and technicians within multidisciplinary teams across the Institute (electronics, mechanics, project management, etc.).

Figure 2 : Example of a distributed software architecture for the control and monitoring of a data acquisition system.

The activities of the Lilas engineers cover multiple domains which include:

  • the specification, design, implementation and deployment of software for simulation and scientific data processing
  • the specification, design, implementation and deployment of software for the experimental apparatuses of physics experiments
  • the ongoing R&D on software development technologies and methods
  • the design and implementation of software frameworks and tools for the development of scientific systems
  • the management of software projects.
Figure 3 : Multiframe Metaformat, an extensible binary data format designed by Lilas and used by many labs throughout the world for data acquisition.

Contact : Anvar Shebli

Projects

  • CLAS12

    CLAS12

    Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering experiment at Jefferson Lab Hall B , with CLAS12, large acceptance spectrometer. Goals: Theoretical concepts asGeneralized Parton Distributions (GPD), enable to…

  • CMS

    CMS

    CMS is the detector of one of the 2 multi-purpose experiments out of the 4 experiments located at the LHC at CERN near Geneva. CMS is installed at point 5 in Cessy. Main goals : During the last…

  • COAST  COmputational ASTrophysics

    COAST COmputational ASTrophysics

    Simulation numérique en astrophysique spécialisé dans l’activité de “calcul de haute performance”. Astrophysics digital simulation for “high performance computing”.

  • COAST  COmputational ASTrophysics

    COAST COmputational ASTrophysics

    Web site of the COASTproject Presentation The COAST project is a DAPNIA program of high performances computing in astrophysics. It includes developments of codes, numerical methods, visualization…

  • JWST

    JWST

    The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launched on 25 December 2021 isthe successor of the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a NASA led mission with the participation of Europe, under the…

  • XMM-Newton

    XMM-Newton

    XMM-Newton An observatory todetect cosmic X-ray radiation The XMM-Newton observatory (XMM stands for X-ray Multi-Mirror) is a telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to studying the…

PhD thesis