ITER fast plant system controller prototype based on ATCA platform

h i g h l i g h t s• JET monitor equipped with a DAQ system to digitize gamma signals from 19 detectors.• DAQ FPGAs used for real-time processing and streaming the gamma-ray energy values.• New algorithm was designed to produce at FPGA real-time spectra from energy values.• Spectra built at FPGA ensures streamed packets not limited by count rate.• New algorithm is relevant for future experiments expecting high event count rates. a r t i c l e i n f o Gamma-ray diagnostics are considered of crucial importance for understanding the plasma behavior of next fusion devices. Among other physical phenomena, gamma-ray spectra can provide information about the fusion reactions rate and the fast ions temperature and confinement, indicators of how close we are from reaching self-sustained burning plasmas. Accordingly, dedicated gamma-ray diagnostics are currently installed at the Joint European Torus (JET). The 2D gamma-ray profile monitor is one of these diagnostics, equipped with an Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) Data Acquisition (DAQ) system, capable of digitizing gamma-ray signals from the 19 photodiode detectors. The DAQ system includes Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices, with embedded processing algorithms. These algorithms are responsible for processing the gamma-ray signals acquired from each detector in real-time, and for periodically streaming the corresponding energy values to the DAQ host. However, for higher count rates it will be unfeasible to stream periodically all the energy values without loss. Thus, a new algorithm was designed, capable to produce real-time spectra at FPGA from the processed energy values. The spectra should be periodically streamed, delivering binned data rather than a value for each gamma-ray. This allows to reduce the data rate, avoiding data losses. Consequently, the streaming data can be used for control purposes, as demanded by next fusion experiments with long plasma discharges of high energy/count rate content. This work describes the real-time spectrum code developed for FPGA along with the attained results. It was concluded that the spectrum code is suitable for implementation in any spectroscopy diagnostic, whenever real-time spectra are required.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data pre-processing using an FPGA by binning gamma ray energies and forwarding consolidated spectra data

Fernandes

Pereira

Neto

et al. 2015

“…subsystem prototype for fast control applications, founded on the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) [1,2]. Connection to the ITER Control, Data Access and Communication (CODAC) central system requires timing signals to be synchronized with a Grand Master Clock (GMC), distributed by ITER's Timing Communication Network (TCN), through IEEE 1588-2008 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) [3], with a precision of 50 ns RMS [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precision Time Protocol support hardware for ATCA control and data acquisition system

Correia

Sousa

Carvalho

et al. 2015

h i g h l i g h t s• ATCA based control and data acquisition subsystem has been developed at IPFN.• PTP and time stamping were implemented with VHDL and PTP daemon (PTPd) codes.• The RTM (. . .) provides PTP synchronization with an external GMC.• The main advantage is that timestamps are generated closer to the Physical Layer at the GMII.• IPFN's upgrade consistently exhibited jitter values below 25 ns RMS. a r t i c l e i n f o . The TCN infrastructure was tested for an RMS jitter under the limit of 50 ns. Therefore, IPFN's hardware, namely the ATCA-PTSW-AMC4 hub-module, which is in charge of timing and synchronization distribution for all subsystem endpoints, shall also perform within this jitter limit. This paper describes a relevant upgrade, applied to the ATCA-PTSW-AMC4 hardware, to comply with these requirements -in particular, the integration of an add-on module "RMC-TMG-1588" on its Rear Transition Module (RTM). This add-on is based on a commercial FPGA-based module from Trenz Electronic, using the ZHAW "PTP VHDL code for timestamping unit and clock", which features clock offset and drift correction and hardware-assisted time stamping. The main advantage is that timestamps are generated closer to the Physical Layer, at the Gigabit Ethernet Media Independent Interface (GMII), avoiding the timing uncertainties accumulated through the upper layers. PTP code and user software run in a MicroBlaze TM soft-core CPU with Linux in the same FPGA, adding programmability and quick implementation of the desired features and upgrades. The paper briefly presents an overview of the ATCA C&DAQ, presenting the PTP and time stamping solution and how it was hardware-implemented, resulting in the RMC-TMG-1588 module. Finally it will describe the synchronization performance tests and results obtained at ITER site as well as indicating further developments to the system, in order to fulfil ITER's requirements.

“…The ITER Fast Plant System Controller (FPSC) prototype contributed to demonstrate the usability of the ATCA standard and its enhanced specifications for the high-speed and high channel density data acquisition applications. This is required by the most demanding ITER tokamak plasma Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems [1,2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ATCA Shelf Manager EPICS device support for ITER CODAC Core System

Santos

Carvalho

Rodrigues

et al. 2015

Self Cite

h i g h l i g h t s• This architecture targets the health management integration into the NDS.• The developed solution supports the ShM redundancy features, specified by ATCA.• The average RTT was around 59 ms and in 99.9% of the cases was less than 130 ms.• Without losing any update cycle, can monitor a system shelf with approximately 400 sensors.• This solution enables the user to configure the entire system in DB files and st.cmd. a r t i c l e i n f o This paper presents a generic EPICS device support developed for the integration of the ATCA Shelf Manager (ShM) into the ITER CCS, providing scalability and easy configuration. The device support uses the available HTTP interface on Shelf Manager in the communication layer. Both HTTP server and sensors/actuators definitions can be configured using the EPICS database file and the Input/Output Controller (IOC) initialization file. A proposal based on this device is also presented, targeting the Nominal Device Support (NDS) for health management.The EPICS device support running in an IOC provides Process Variables (PV) to the PON network with the system information and these PVs can be used by all CA clients, such as EPICS user interface clients, alarm systems and archive systems.Operation with redundant ATCA ShMs and device support scalability tests were performed and the results are presented.