The Feasibility and Advantages of Commercial Process I/O Systems for Accelerator Control

Control systems for large particle accelerators must be able to handle analog and digital signals and timing coordination for devices which are spread over a large physical area. Many signals must be converted and transmitted to and from a central control area during each accelerator cycle. Digital transmission is often used to combat common mode and RF interference. Most accelerators in use today have met these requirements with custom process I/O hardware, data transmission systems, and computer interfaces. In-house development of hardware and software has been a very costly and time consuming process, but due to the lack of available commercial equipment, there was often no other alternative. Today, a large portion of these development costs can be avoided. Small control computers are now available off the shelf which have extensive process control I/O hardware and software capability. Computer control should be designed into accelerator systems from the beginning, using operating systems available from manufacturer. With most of the systems programming done, the designers can begin immediately on the applications software.