C. Centioli

Design for the upgrade of the Fast Sequence Control for Frascati Tokamak Upgrade

In ENEA Frascati research centre an experimental fusion machine called Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) is in operation since 1990. During the experimental activity, the automatic control and synchronization of many plants are required. The FTU control system [1] includes many sub-systems having different roles [2, 3]. In particular, a Fast Sequence Control (FSC) hardware is necessary to drive the tokamak power plants and to detect the errors in the fast control sequence during the plasma discharge. The FSC system was designed and realized in 1980s and is still in operation. Due to the obsolescence of some hardware components, a new project for the FSC Upgrade (FSCU) has been started. The project includes a new architecture based on up-to-date commercial hardware and dedicated firmware and software. In the present paper the architecture and the functions of the Fast Sequence Control - Upgrade system is described, along with the main differences between the two systems.

Recent developments and object-oriented approach in FTU database

Abstract During the last two years, the experimental database of Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) has been changed from several points of view, particularly: (i) the data and the analysis codes have been moved from the IBM main frame to Unix platforms making enabling the users to take advantage of the large quantities of commercial and free software available under Unix (Matlab, IDL, …); (ii) AFS (Andrew File System) has been chosen as the distributed file system making the data available on all the nodes and distributing the workload; (iii) ‘One measure/one file’ philosophy (vs. the previous ‘one pulse/one file’) has been adopted increasing the number of files into the database but, at the same time, allowing the most important data to be available just after the plasma discharge. The client–server architecture has been tested using the signal viewer client jScope. Moreover, an object oriented data model (OODM) of FTU experimental data has been tried: a generalized model in tokamak experimental data has been developed with typical concepts such as abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. The model has been integrated with data coming from different databases, building an Object Warehouse to extract, with data mining techniques, meaningful trends and patterns from huge amounts of data.

The new FTU control system as a result of technological and functional evolution at Frascati Energy Research Center

The paper describes the evolution of the control and data acquisition system from its initial implementation on the Frascati Tokamak (FT) to the modifications for the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU), and then the present upgrading necessitated by machine enhancement and technological improvements. The latest developments have been made placing emphasis on the typical requirements of an experimental fusion machine control system, such as modular structure, advanced man-machine interface, automation of all or part of the management procedures of the experiment, easy servicing and updating of the software system, possibility to include important commercial software applications, such as data base, and historical registration of plant measurements. Our experience has also shown that the following goals should also be achieved: easiness of use by operators who do not have a thorough knowledge of the layout of all the plants, possibility to keep and integrate the existing applications used by FTU physicists. The new control and data acquisition system integrates old and new requirements with currently available commercial software applications in order to match optimization, throughput, and the experimental requirements.

Real-Time Data Acquisition and Processing System Design for the ITER Radial Neutron Camera

The Radial Neutron Camera (RNC) of ITER is a collimated multichannel neutron detection system intended to characterize fusion plasma neutron source. The RNC diagnostic plays a primary role in the ITER Program for advanced control measurements and physics studies. It also acts as backup system by providing machine protection and basic control measurements. The aim of ITER is to prove the viability of fusion as an energy source and to collect the data necessary for the design and subsequent operation of the first electricity-producing fusion power plant. The expected ITER pulse duration is up to 500 s in the inductive scenario. The demanding ITER operating conditions require a real-time Data AcQuisition and Processing (DAQP) system that will acquire analog signals from the RNC detectors (e.g. scintillators, CVD diamonds, fission chambers) providing digital data throu2gh high performance networks to the ITER database. Two DAQP systems are expected to be used as prototypes for preliminary tests of performance: one based on PCI Express Extensions for Instrumentation (PXIe) and another one based on Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA). The ATCA based system, with an architecture capable of withstanding a sustainable throughput of the order of 0.5 GB/s of data per channel, will be presented. The system features high performance Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) for every two 12 bits channels, sampling up to 1.6 GSPS and high performance host computers for every 4 channels through ×16 PCIe 2.0 links. The criteria used for the choice of the components of both systems, ATCA and PXIe take into account: i) data throughput; ii) realtime data reduction; iii) compression, and iv) pulse processing. Finally, the expected data throughput performance of both architectures will be discussed.