Real-time multi-DSP based VME system for feedback control on the TCV Tokamak

This paper describes a real-time pulse height analysis diagnostic for feedback control of the TCV plasma. The implementation of this diagnostic is based on a new generation X-ray detector with high resolution and count rate, an in-house developed VME intelligent module, with parallel processing capabilities provided by four Digital Signal Processors, and several digital signal processing algorithms. Results show that a value of the electron temperature (T_e) can be calculated in approximately 100 ms, thus providing a twenty-value T_e profile during a TCV discharge. The time resolution might be increased by improving the X-ray detecting system and/or the processing procedures.