HIT, Heidelberg, Germany
Changes in the accelerator beamline of the Heidelberg Ionbeam Therapy-Center necessitated a relevant change in the accelerator control system. Specifically the addition of a third ion source to the LEBT beamline dictated an expansion of the Virtual Accelerator structure both in the database and the DCU software. The decision to go to a virtual server infrastructure to meet the demands for better redundancy and performance prompted an overhaul of the ACS software and hardware base. Two new redundant virtualization servers and doubled storage systems helped to increase safety and system performance. To take advantage of the newer hardware and 64-bit operating systems, all software was converted to a 64 bit base. Additionally, as a quality of life and security improvement, the download and flash functionality of the ACS were updated to enhance performance and security checks for quality assurance measures. The new virtualization host server and infrastructure hardware in conjunction with the 64 bit update and ensuing efficiency increases have resulted in a safer and significantly faster ACS with higher redundancy in case of hardware failure.
