The existing VxWorks real time system for the position and shape control in ASDEX Upgrade has been extended to calculate magnetic flux surfaces in real time using a multi-core PCI Express system running LabVIEW RT 8.6. Real time signal processing of bolometers and manometers is performed with the on-board FPGA to calculate the measured radiated power flux and particle flux respectively from the raw data. Radiation feedback experiments use halo current measurements from the outer divertor with real time median filter pre-processing to remove the excursions produced by ELM's. Integration of these plasma diagnostics into the control system by the exchange of XML sheets for communicating the real time variables to be produced and consumed is in operation. Reflective memory and UDP are employed by the LabVIEW RT plasma diagnostics to communicate with the control system and other plasma diagnostics in a multi-platform real time network.
The existing real time system for the position and shape control in ASDEX Upgrade has been extended to calculate magnetic flux surfaces in real time using a multi-core PCI Express system running LabVIEW RT. The availability of reflective memory for LabVIEW RT will allow this system to be connected to the control system and other diagnostics in a multiplatform real time network. The measured response of each magnetic probe to the individual poloidal field coil currents in the absence of plasma current is compared to the calculated value. Prior to a tokamak discharge this comparison can be used to check for failure of the magnetic probe, flux loop or integrator.
Plasma control experiments require enormous computational power to solve large problems with critical time constraints. For tokamak control, the non-linear and constrained Grad-Shafranov equation needs to be solved in real-time with a cycle time of less than 1 ms. A new algorithm for the solution of this equation based on discrete sine transforms and a tridiagonal solver rather than the commonly used cyclic reduction algorithm is presented. Input signals from magnetic probes and flux loops are the constraints for the equation that must be continuously solved to calculate the magnetic equilibrium. A number of novel mathematical ideas were introduced and several generally applicable numerical strategies were developed using LabVIEW graphical dataflow programming to meet the critical timing goals. Benchmarks on CPUs are reported. Furthermore, the design of a MIMO controller to demonstrate the possibilities of tokamak position and shape control using graphical dataflow programming is discussed.
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