Publications Details

Designing an experimenters database using the Nijssen Information Analysis Methodology (NIAM)

Eaton, M.J.

This paper presents a discussion of the use of the Nijssen Information Analysis Methodology (NIAM) in the design of an experimenters database. This database is used by physicists and technicians to describe the configuration and diagnostic systems used on Sandia National Laboratories Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II (PBFA II). The design of this database presented some unique challenges because of the large degree of flexibility required to enable timely response to changing experimental configurations. The NIAM user-oriented technique proved to be invaluable in translating experimenter's requirements into an information model and then to a normalized relational design.