https://cdn.specpick.com/images/photonics/splunknif_wall.jpg712370

The US National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most powerful laser facility, is using Splunk Enterprise and Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) to observe and take action on collected data from researches.

NIF houses 192 giant laser beams used to conduct experiments -- known as laser shots -- which promote and enable the bleeding edge of scientific research. Founded by the National Nuclear Security Administration, NIF provides key support for the US Stockpile Stewardship Program, which keeps the nation’s nuclear stockpile safe, secure and effective. The facility also conducts experiments into fusion ignition and explores astrophysics, materials science, nuclear science and other areas that help the United States keep a competitive advantage in scientific endeavors.

Splunk is a provider of solution to perform actions and gain outcomes from the world of data. The company is helping NIF to improve system uptime and performance and respond to IT challenges before they happen, giving their team of world-renowned scientists more time back to conduct a wide range of experiments that help keep the country safe.

The NIF, according to Phillip Adams, CTO and Lead Architect at the Facility, exists to advance science and keep the nation’s nuclear stockpile secure. To do that, the team needs access to the right data, to make decisions and take action at the right time. With Splunk, he adds, the team can bring the data from many disparate sources to every IT analyst, engineer and scientist at NIF. This gives scientists the ability to take laser shots when they need to and accomplish their mission.

Splunk sits at the heart of NIF’s Computer Control System (CCS), which manages over 66,000 control points to power NIF’s massive laser facility. NIF uses Splunk Enterprise with Splunk ITSI as a business platform within the CCS, allowing the lab to take action on machine data from a variety of sources, including application data, operational data, and sensor data like laser voltage, temperature and pressure. Powered by the Splunk Machine Learning Toolkit, this level of advanced insight allows NIF to respond to IT issues and predict abnormal behavior within the laser facility, which improves availability and enables NIF to conduct over 400 laser shots per year.

NIF also uses Splunk for IoT use cases, including diagnostics and analytics on a wide range of sensors, with cameras, thermometers and motors that are critical components of its laser facility’s infrastructure. Using Splunk ITSI, the Facility can detect when these sensors begin to decay, which allows them to repair sensors before they falter and cause potentially unscheduled downtime.