A digital control system for accelerator operator-host computer interface

A design for a digital control system for use by an accelerator operator is presented. The system is designed to interface the operator with the host control computer. This is done using panel mount rotary optical shaft encoders. Peripheral hardware processes the shaft encoder signals and gives the operator control over signal parameters such as rate-of-change. A design for a remote terminal (communicating with the host via RS-232) for data input and control commands is presented. The overall design maximizes ease-of-use by the operator while flexibility and expandability are increased over the levels offered by current systems at the Argonne Tandem-Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS). Alternative applications and future improvements are also discussed