Advanced Data Acquisition System Implementation for the ITER Neutron Diagnostic Use Case Using EPICS and FlexRIO Technology on a PXIe Platform

Abstract

To aid in assessing the functional performance of ITER, Fission Chambers (FC) based on the neutron diagnostic use case deliver timestamped measurements of neutron source strength and fusion power. To demonstrate the Plant System Instrumentation & Control (I&C) required for such a system, ITER Organization (IO) has developed a neutron diagnostics use case that fully complies with guidelines presented in the Plant Control Design Handbook (PCDH). The implementation presented in this paper has been developed on the PXI Express (PXIe) platform using products from the ITER catalog of standard I&C hardware for fast controllers. Using FlexRIO technology, detector signals are acquired at 125 MS/s, while filtering, decimation, and three methods of neutron counting are performed in real-time via the onboard Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Measurement results are reported every 1 ms through Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) Channel Access (CA), with real-time timestamps derived from the ITER Timing Communication Network (TCN) based on IEEE 1588-2008. Furthermore, in accordance with ITER specifications for CODAC Core System (CCS) application development, the software responsible for the management, configuration, and monitoring of system devices has been developed in compliance with a new EPICS module called Nominal Device Support (NDS) and RIO/FlexRIO design methodology.