Real-time tomography system at ISTTOK

Abstract

A real-time plasma position control system is mandatory to achieve long duration (up to 250ms), Alternating Current (AC) discharges on the ISTTOK tokamak. Such a system has been used for some time supported only on magnetic field diagnostic data. However, this system is clearly challenged when the plasma current is low, rendering it inoperative during the plasma current reversal. A tomography diagnostic with 3 pinhole cameras and 8 silicon photodiode channels per camera was installed and customized to supply alternative plasma position to be used for plasma position control. As no filtering is applied most of the radiation detected is in the visible/near-UV range. The data acquisition and control system is based on a 2MSPS, 32 channel acquisition ATCA module and the data processing is performed on a GPU that is connected to another ATCA module via the PCI-Express port for fast data access. Control commands are relayed to the plasma positioning PF power supplies via optical serial ports. In this work, an overview of some of the tomographic reconstruction algorithms most commonly used for tokamak plasmas is done and an assessment is made on the best candidate for the proposed real-time implementation. The tomography acquisition and plasma control systems operating at ISTTOK are also described. This system aims at achieving the following goals: (i) execute a tomographic reconstruction; (ii) determine the average emissivity position from it; (iii) calculate the shift from the axis and (iv) supply the vertical field power supply with the desired current value, all in less than 100μs. The horizontal magnetic field power supply unit, essential for vertical plasma positioning, is foreseen to be integrated in the system and will have no impact in the processing time.