In Depth Diagnostics for RF System Operation in the PEP-II B Factory

The PEP-II RF systems incorporate numerous feedback loops in the low-level processing for impedance control and operating point regulation. The interaction of the multiple loops with the beam is complicated, and the systems incorporate online diagnostic tools to configure the feedback loops as well as to record fault files in the case of an RF abort. Rapid and consistent analysis of the RF-related beam aborts and other failures is critical to the reliable operation of the B-Factory, especially at the recently achieved high beam currents. Procedures and algorithms used to extract diagnostic information from time domain fault files are presented and illustrated via example interpretations of PEP-II fault file data. Example faults presented will highlight the subtle interpretation required to determine the root cause. Some such examples are: abort kicker firing asynchronously, klystron and cavity arcs, beam loss leading to longitudinal instability, tuner read back jumps and poorly configured low-level RF feedback loop.