The main aim of the COMPASS Detector Control System (DCS) is to provide the control of all the COMPASS setup parameters during long-term periods of data taking, as well as for the beam tests at construction period.

    It includes the control of the High Voltage and Low Voltage systems, Gas supplies, Racks and Crates with electronics, as well as the monitoring of slowly varying parameters (e.g pressure, temperature, etc); and status of experiment-wide infrastructure items, like the cooling water system. The DCS does not include the Run Control of the COMPASS experiment, which is performed by the Data Acquisition System (DAQ).

    The DCS uses a commercial SCADA (Supervisory Controls and Data Acquisition system), called PVSS. To allow for easier navigation in the system, integration of new devices, changing of parameters, etc, the JCOP Framework and the COMPASS Framework are used as upper layers.

    While some devices communicate with PVSS through OPC Servers, others (the CAEN modules, for example) use the SLIC package, developed at CERN (like a drivers' collection). The communication between the PVSS and the SLIC is done using DIM, another CERN developed product.