Seven Solutions, together with Fusion for Energy and CIEMAT, has developed the soft- and hardware of a fully digital low-level RF controller. This device is responsible of controling and tuning the Radio Frequency (RF) cavities in the accelerator. Using White Rabbit synchronization, accurate data acquisition and multiple distributed LLRF parameters, optimization has never been so easy.
The LLRF controls and tunes the radio frequency on the cavities of the accelerator. The different power levels at the RF chain output are controlled by the LLRF, which provides the correct drive to the amplifiers in order to reach the required amplitude and phase of the cavity field. This flexible and cost-effective solution includes key functionalities such as feedback and feedforward loops, frequency tuning and continuous wave, pulse and beam modes, mechanical cavity tuning, conditioning, fast interlocks, post-mortem, etc…
The system synchronization distributes time and frequency over ethernet with sub-nanosecond accuracy. It allows for a highly reliable and real-time diagnosis and post-mortem analysis (with data logger up to 100 MHz rate and libraries in MATLAB, python, CSS / BOY) with wide possibilities for choosing diagnostic signals, trigger selection, duration and resolution of the capture, among other things.
This fully digital LLRF with direct digital synthesis and sampling (high-speed DACs and ADCs) could be universally implemented in any of the 30.000 accelerators existing worldwide. Moreover, it provides flexibility in the design and synchronization accuracy of all the RF Master/Slave chain along the accelerator. It uses EPICS as a control system and offers a customizable user-friendly interface. Embedded widely used IT tools and Linux ensure easy operation and future maintainability.
For more information on this technology, please visit the Fusion for Energy page.
Keywords:
LLRF controls – Nanosecond accuracy – Software – Hardware – Feedback loops – Feedforward loops