Real-Time Fast Controller Prototype for J-TEXT Tokamak

The operation of a tokamak device is highly sophisticated, which usually requires high performance real-time controllers. The ITER Control, Data Access and Communication (CODAC) team has made standards for Fast Controller (FC). Following the ITER CODAC standards we have designed the real-time FC (RTFC) for J-TEXT. The RTFC is a FC with dedicated software structure for real-time control. It servers as a design template for all real-time controllers on J-TEXT, and with minor modification it can be used for various application like Plasma Control and real-time diagnosis. The RTFC mainly features the PXIe bus with multi-core processor hardware, the Reflective-Memory technology and the IEEE-1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP). It is capable of performing close-loop control with a time cycle below 1 ms. The real-time FC supports the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS), it can be monitored and configured using EPICS, and will work autonomously when integrated into the J-TEXT CODAC system. Preliminary testing results based on a prototype used as the J-TEXT Vertical Field Power Supply Controller will also be presented.