NSTX Computing and ControlsPaul SichtaPrinceton Plasma Physics LaboratoryPrinceton University

EPICS Collaboration MeetingJune 2-4, 2010 Aix-en-Provence, FranceCulham Sci CtrU St. AndrewsYork UChubu UFukui UHiroshima UHyogo UKyoto UKyushu UKyushu Tokai UNIFSNiigata UU TokyoJAERIHebrew UIoffe InstRRC Kurchatov InstTRINITIKBSIKAISTENEA, FrascatiCEA, CadaracheIPP, JlichIPP, GarchingASCR, Czech RepU QuebecCollege W&MColorado Sch MinesColumbia UComp-XGeneral AtomicsINELJohns Hopkins ULANLLLNLLodestarMITNova PhotonicsNew York UOld Dominion UORNLPPPLPSIPrinceton USNLThink Tank, Inc.UC DavisUC IrvineUCLAUCSDU ColoradoU MarylandU RochesterU WashingtonU Wisconsin

AgendaPPPL - NSTXComputing and Controls 10+ years of Operations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

ITERNSTX

Princeton Plasma Physics LaboratoryMotor GeneratorNeutral Beam PowerRF GeneratorsNSTX Test CellControl RoomField Coil Power ConversionWater CoolingHe Refrig

FY12-13-14NSTX-Upgrade Project *

Pulse Length: 1.8 6.5 sec

Ip: 1 2 MA

2nd NBI :6 12 MW

BTF: 1 2 Tesla* Project is in the design stages

NSTX Control RoomNSTX ComputerCenter

EPICSMDSplusPlasma Control Software from General AtomicsSharedAppVNCSystem Imager

Commercial software:Red Hat Enterprise Linux; Windows; vxWorksLabVIEWVisualization:IDL lots of inertiaMatlab use growingNSTXEPICS Spring 2010NSTX uses open-source andcollaborative software

NSTX Computing & Controls

(6) IOC's(4) vxWorks, (1) Linux, (1) WindowsDevice Support: CAMAC, OPC, MODBUS500 transient digitizer channels2000 discrete I/O points11 EPICS Application Areas250 databases, 10,000 records400 MEDM displays15 Sequencer Programs600 PV's to Channel Archiver/ArchiveViewerGateway, StripTool, SaveSet & RestoreNSTXEPICS Spring 2010

MDSplusPulse-based Data Repository2 MDSplus servers: 1 uses CAMAC30 trees, 4000 signals, > 60000 nodes (I havent checked how many used) 75 diagnostics and engineering systems4 GB/shot0.5 GB from EPICS5 GB from cameras - not kept in MDSplusEPICS trend data (daily 'shot') .... more on MDSplus from Manduchi's talk

Real-time Plasma ControlControls plasma shape, position, and other properties via real-time control of magnet power supplies, gas injection, neutral beam injection 420 inputs @ 5 KHz, 50 outputs ~12 real-time control algorithms with a range of complexity, cycle time, and phasesReal-time code runs on an 8-core Linux system I/O is hybrid of PPPL-designed and COTS FPDP transport, FPGA, VME-format, CAMACSoftware framework developed at General Atomics, used at numerous facilities.NSTXEPICS Spring 2010

The Good Control systems supports the research - over 95% reliability for NSTX machine.EPICS : reliable and low maintenanceMDSplus : generally good. NSTX experienced problems with CAMAC and with the event system.NSTXEPICS Spring 2010

the Bad NSTXEPICS Spring 2010

and the UglyCyber SecurityA top-level metric for PPPL's contract performance evaluationCurrent implementation affects RAM (Reliability-Availability-Maintainability): configuration control -- simplicity -- operating envelopemoving target - escalating cost

Test Cell computer hardware failures Adnaco PCI fiber optic extenderall fiber network

NSTXEPICS Spring 2010

Final Thoughts ... NSTX computing and controls have performed wellOpen source software provides longevity and can be tailored for experimental needsActive collaborations have provided excellent technical support EPICS gets an A grade for its primary role at NSTX Integrated ControlStaffing, and not the EPICS architecture or performance capabilities, have limited EPICSs wider role in NSTX control systemsNSTXEPICS Spring 2010

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