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SPIDER, ITER's full-size beam source at the Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF), has been operational since 2018. SPIDER's mission is to optimize the operation of the beam source in order to reuse SPIDER's experience on MITICA, the full-size prototype of the ITER Neutral Beam Injector, and in the ITER injectors. The exploitation of SPIDER started with short, low-performance pulses lasting up to a few seconds and progressed to obtain long pulses up to 3000 seconds. Furthermore, the integration of plant and diagnostic systems has grown over time. The amount of data collected per pulse provide a measure of evolution: it has gone from a few tens of MB in the first campaign pulses to the current average value of over 130 GB, most of which produced by infrared and visible cameras. From the first operation onwards, the control systems have also evolved, including components and functions initially not foreseen or developed in a preliminary form. This includes the progressive integration of plant and diagnostic systems and of protection and safety functions. The paper initially focuses on the architecture of the SPIDER control systems, i.e. CODAS, the system delivering conventional control and data management, the central interlock system, delivering plant protection, and the central safety system delivering people and environment safety. Since we developed all systems according to the ITER guidelines for implementing control systems, the integrated SPIDER control, interlock and safety systems may provide an interesting example for developers of ITER plant systems. The paper then describes how the top-down definition and implementation of operating states and operational scenarios provides the framework for the integration of control, interlock and safety systems and the basic elements for successful operation. Finally, the paper reports the lessons learned during these years of operation with particular attention to the progressive, continuous evolution and recommissioning of systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ITER Neutral Beam (NBI) Test Facility, under construction in Padova, Italy consists in the ITER full scale ion source for the heating neutral beam injector, referred to as SPIDER, and the full size prototype injector, referred to as MITICA. The Control and Data Acquisition System (CODAS) for SPIDER has been developed and is going to be in operation in 2016. The system is composed of four main components: Supervision, Slow Control, Fast Control and Data Acquisition. These components interact with each other to carry out the system operation and, since they represent a common pattern in fusion experiments, software frameworks have been used for each (set of) component. In order to reuse as far as possible the architecture developed for SPIDER, it is important to clearly define the boundaries and the interfaces among the system components so that the implementation of any component can be replaced without affecting the overall architecture. This work reports the experience gained in the development of SPIDER components, highlighting the importance in the definition of generic interfaces among component, showing how the specific solutions have been adapted to such interfaces and suggesting possible approaches for the development of other ITER subsystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The ITER Heating Neutral Beam injectors will be implemented in three steps: development of the ion source prototype, development of the full injector prototype, and, finally, construction of up to three ITER injectors. The first two steps will be carried out in the ITER neutral beam test facility under construction in Italy. The ion source prototype, referred to as SPIDER, which is currently in the development phase, is a complex experiment involving more than 20 plant units and operating with beam-on pulses lasting up to 1h. As for control and data acquisition it requires fast and slow control (cycle time around 0.1ms and 10ms, respectively), synchronization (10ns resolution), and data acquisition for about 1000 channels (analogue and images) with sampling frequencies up to tens of MS/s, data throughput up to 200MB/s, and data storage volume of up to tens of TB/year. The paper describes the architecture of the SPIDER control and data acquisition system, discussing the SPIDER requirements and the ITER CODAC interfaces and specifications for plant system instrumentation and control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The real-time control system of RFX-mod, in operation since 2005, has been successful and has allowed several important achievements in the RFX physics research program. As a consequence of this fact, new control algorithms are under investigation, which are more demanding in terms of both enhanced computing power and reduced system latency, currently around 1.5ms. For this reason, a major upgrade of the system is being considered, and a new architecture has been proposed, taking advantage of the rapid evolution of computer technology in the last years. The central component of the new architecture is a Linux-based multicore server, where individual cores replace the VME computers. The server is connected to the I/O via PCI-e based bus extenders, and every PCI-e connection is managed by a separate core. The system is supervised by MARTe, a software framework for real-time applications written in C++ and developed at JET and currently used for the JET vertical stabilization and in other fusion devices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The TPE-RX Neutral Beam Injector, which provides a 25keV positive ion beam energy with a maximum current of 50A for a pulse duration of 30ms, will be installed on RFX-mod thanks to the agreement with the AIST Institute of Tsukuba (Japan). The main scientific objective is the study of the behavior of the fast ions, which in the RFP helical equilibrium have exhibited very long confinement times. The integration of TPE-RX NBI on RFX-mod requires the development of several new components: a mechanical interface between the RFX-mod vacuum vessel and neutralizer; a Magnetic Residual Ion Dump; a new vacuum pumping system designed to maximize pumping and minimize beam stopping due to reionization. As regards the power supplies the compliance of the Japanese equipment to the Italian safety rules has been considered and layout studies have been carried out; the integration of the NBI control system in the RFX timing sequence has been studied as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: SPIDER (Source for the Production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from Rf plasma) is a new experimental device under development at Consorzio RFX aimed at providing a full-scale ion source prototype for MITICA (Megavolt ITer Injector and Concept Advance), the experiment devoted at supplying a full-scale prototype of the ITER Heating Neutral Beam Injector (HNB). Both experimental devices will be hosted in a new facility known as PRIMA (Padova Research on Injectors Megavolt Accelerated). The correct operation of SPIDER and MITICA will be guaranteed by process automation and plant monitoring that will be implemented using suitable controllers (cycle time greater than 10ms) in conjunction with appropriate SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) software. This paper presents the tests performed at Consorzio RFX to evaluate commercial and open-source SCADA packages and prepare a technical base for the selection of the SCADA system for SPIDER. Two commercial solutions and two open-source solutions (EPICS and TANGO) were investigated. The typical test-bed was represented by a SCADA system exchanging data with a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). The case study consisted of: (a) the development of a minimal panel provided with fields for setting parameters and of a trend window; (b) the set-up of two kinds of communication, a direct connection between the SCADA and the PLC and an indirect one by means of an OPC (Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control) server. The communication performance was evaluated measuring the network traffic with a fixed number of data variables exchanged and different polling cycle times. The conclusions show that the final choice of a SCADA package for SPIDER will be between one commercial SCADA and EPICS. This choice will not depend uniquely on the results of the tests, but will be also dictated by the early schedule of the SPIDER operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Operation of the new RFX machine has started in fall 2004, using a completely renewed version of its MDSplus data acquisition system. The new system runs under Linux and is highly distributed, employing approximately 20 machines which perform local data acquisition and communicate with a central server. The overall experience after several months of operation has been quite successful. In particular, the following aspects represent the major changes, besides the migration from VMS to Linux: [-] exclusive usage of the MDSplus scripting language TDI to write the device-specific application code; [-] exclusive usage of Java, and in particular of jScope, for data display in the control room and in the offices; [-] exclusive usage of Java for the coordination tools. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

RFX-mod2 is an upgrade of RFX-mod that will use a modified shell and mechanical structure in order to enhance plasma-shell proximity and therefore to improve plasma control. The Control and Data Acquisition System for most of the plant systems and diagnostics previously used in RFX-mod will be refurbished, while others will be completely re-built. The most important component that will be completely renewed is the ElectroMagnetic probe (EM) data acquisition system, where a new architecture based on XILINX Zynq FPGA will be used to carry out at the same time both high-speed data acquisition and resampled data streaming for active plasma control. The use of MDSplus will be retained in RFX-mod2, while the MARTe framework used for real-time plasma control will be replaced by MARTe2, a new framework developed under strict software quality standards. Plant control in RFX-mod2 will be supervised by WinCC-OA, replacing the previous FactoryLink SCADA systems. Older plant systems such as vacuum control based on outdated S5 PLCs will be updated and will use OPC-UA for communication with the supervisory control system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]