A RESEARCH ON SEAMLESS PLATFORM CHANGE OF REACTOR PROTECTION SYSTEM FROM PLC TO FPGA

Abstract

The PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) has been widely used to implement real-time controllers in nuclear RPSs (Reactor Protection Systems). Increasing complexity and maintenance cost, however, are now demanding more powerful and cost-effective implementation such as FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array). Abandoning all experience and knowledge accumulated over the decades and starting an all-new development approach is too risky for such safety-critical systems. This paper proposes an RPS software development process with a platform change from PLC to FPGA, while retaining all outputs from the established development. This paper transforms FBD designs of the PLC-based software development into a behaviorally-equivalent Verilog program, which is a starting point of a typical FPGA-based hardware development. We expect that the proposed software development process can bridge the gap between two software developing approaches with different platforms, such as PLC and FPGA. This paper also demonstrates its effectiveness using an example of a prototype version of a real-world RPS in Korea.