Development of instrumentation and control systems for the ITER diagnostic systems in JADA

Abstract

Japan Domestic Agency (JADA) is responsible for six diagnostic systems in the ITER project. We have successfully developed a prototype instrumentation and control (I&C) system for the ITER divertor thermocouples system. The prototype I&C system includes a supervisory function, a sequencing management function, and a data acquisition function. The supervisory function, which was implemented using EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System), manages internal operations for measurement such as health check of sensors. We developed a conversion tool from flowcharts to EPICS record source codes. The EPICS records generated by the conversion tool are used to trigger each operation step and to indicate the progress of the sequence. We also developed the sequencing management function that coordinates the execution of operation steps. Both the flowchart conversion tool and sequencing management function were developed to reduce designers’ mistakes and to ensure rapid development. The prototype I&C system for the DTC was tested. We confirmed that the I&C system performed satisfying the requirements. This validated design will be applied to other ITER diagnostic systems procured by JADA.