Conceptual project and present status of the ETE control and data acquisition systems

The control and data acquisition systems of the recently built Experimento Tokamak Esférico (ETE) (Spherical Tokamak Experiment) were conceived in a distributed, integrated and user-friendly approach (Fus. Eng. Design. 36 (1997) 167). The computerized control of the tokamak operation is based on CAMAC standard electronics to interface the tokamak subsystems and the control software, written in C language, to run under Windows NT. A requirement put on the system was to provide complete electrical isolation between the control and the machine rooms. Therefore, a shot is remotely started from the control room in which terminals are connected to the control computer through a fiber optics LAN and employing web-style or Windows network software, providing a total-isolation solution. Human and equipment safety is guaranteed by a safety pneumatic system, basically composed of a set of interlocks, made with pneumatic and electro-pneumatic elements. Data acquisition of plasma diagnostics is being implemented with co-operation of the ISTTOK group and it will be based on VME bus and OS-9 operating system. In our system, control and data signals will have separate buses and the acquisition of experimental data will begin with a trigger pulse coming from a CAMAC timing module. The Interactive Data Language commercial software will be used to run programs that will display the stored experimental data.