ICALEPCS2011 - List of Authors (McCullen, P.)

Paper

Title

Page

The Software and Hardware Architectural Design of the Vessel Thermal Map Real-Time System in JET

905

D. Alves, A. Neto, D.F. Valcárcel
IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
G. Arnoux, P. Card, S. Devaux, R.C. Felton, A. Goodyear, D. Kinna, P.J. Lomas, P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen, K-D. Zastrow
CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
S. Jachmich
RMA, Brussels, Belgium

The installation of ITER-relevant materials for the plasma facing components (PFCs) in the Joint European Torus (JET) is expected to have a strong impact on the operation and protection of the experiment. In particular, the use of all-beryllium tiles, which deteriorate at a substantially lower temperature than the formerly installed CFC tiles, imposes strict thermal restrictions on the PFCs during operation. Prompt and precise responses are therefore required whenever anomalous temperatures are detected. The new Vessel Thermal Map (VTM) real-time application collects the temperature measurements provided by dedicated pyrometers and Infra-Red (IR) cameras, groups them according to spatial location and probable offending heat source and raises alarms that will trigger appropriate protective responses. In the context of JET's global scheme for the protection of the new wall, the system is required to run on a 10 millisecond cycle communicating with other systems through the Real-Time Data Network (RTDN). In order to meet these requirements a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution has been adopted based on standard x86 multi-core technology, Linux and the Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) software framework. This paper presents an overview of the system with particular technical focus on the configuration of its real-time capability and the benefits of the modular development approach and advanced tools provided by the MARTe framework.
See the Appendix of F. Romanelli et al., Proceedings of the 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference 2010, Daejeon, Korea

Poster WEPMN014 [5.306 MB]

THDAULT06

MARTe Framework: a Middleware for Real-time Applications Development

1277

A. Neto, D. Alves, B. Carvalho, P.J. Carvalho, H. Fernandes, D.F. Valcárcel
IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
A. Barbalace, G. Manduchi
Consorzio RFX, Associazione Euratom-ENEA sulla Fusione, Padova, Italy
L. Boncagni
ENEA C.R. Frascati, Frascati (Roma), Italy
G. De Tommasi
CREATE, Napoli, Italy
P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen
CCFE, Culham, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
F. Sartori
F4E, Barcelona, Spain
R. Vitelli
Università di Roma II Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy
L. Zabeo
ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France

Funding: This work was supported by the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/IST and was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement
The Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) is a C++ framework that provides a development environment for the design and deployment of real-time applications, e.g. control systems. The kernel of MARTe comprises a set of data-driven independent blocks, connected using a shared bus. This modular design enforces a clear boundary between algorithms, hardware interaction and system configuration. The architecture, being multi-platform, facilitates the test and commissioning of new systems, enabling the execution of plant models in offline environments and with the hardware-in-the-loop, whilst also providing a set of non-intrusive introspection and logging facilities. Furthermore, applications can be developed in non real-time environments and deployed in a real-time operating system, using exactly the same code and configuration data. The framework is already being used in several fusion experiments, with control cycles ranging from 50 microseconds to 10 milliseconds exhibiting jitters of less than 2%, using VxWorks, RTAI or Linux. Codes can also be developed and executed in Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X. This paper discusses the main design concepts of MARTe, in particular the architectural choices which enabled the combination of real-time accuracy, performance and robustness with complex and modular data driven applications.

Slides THDAULT06 [1.535 MB]

FRAAULT04

Centralised Coordinated Control to Protect the JET ITER-like Wall.

1293

A.V. Stephen, G. Arnoux, T. Budd, P. Card, R.C. Felton, A. Goodyear, J. Harling, D. Kinna, P.J. Lomas, P. McCullen, P.D. Thomas, I.D. Young, K-D. Zastrow
CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
D. Alves, D.F. Valcárcel
IST, Lisboa, Portugal
S. Devaux
MPI/IPP, Garching, Germany
S. Jachmich
RMA, Brussels, Belgium
A. Neto
IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal

Funding: This work was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement. This work was also part-funded by the RCUK Energy Programme under grant EP/I501045.
The JET ITER-like wall project replaces the first wall carbon fibre composite tiles with beryllium and tungsten tiles which should have improved fuel retention characteristics but are less thermally robust. An enhanced protection system using new control and diagnostic systems has been designed which can modify the pre-planned experimental control to protect the new wall. Key design challenges were to extend the Level-1 supervisory control system to allow configurable responses to thermal problems to be defined without introducing excessive complexity, and to integrate the new functionality with existing control and protection systems efficiently and reliably. Alarms are generated by the vessel thermal map (VTM) system if infra-red camera measurements of tile temperatures are too high and by the plasma wall load system (WALLS) if component power limits are exceeded. The design introduces two new concepts: local protection, which inhibits individual heating components but allows the discharge to proceed, and stop responses, which allow highly configurable early termination of the pulse in the safest way for the plasma conditions and type of alarm. These are implemented via the new real-time protection system (RTPS), a centralised controller which responds to the VTM and WALLS alarms by providing override commands to the plasma shape, current, density and heating controllers. This paper describes the design and implementation of the RTPS system which is built with the Multithreaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) and will present results from initial operations.

Slides FRAAULT04 [2.276 MB]

MOPMU035

Shape Controller Upgrades for the JET ITER-like Wall

514

A. Neto, D. Alves, I.S. Carvalho
IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
G. De Tommasi, F. Maviglia
CREATE, Napoli, Italy
R.C. Felton, P. McCullen
EFDA-JET, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
P.J. Lomas, F. G. Rimini, A.V. Stephen, K-D. Zastrow
CCFE, Culham, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom
R. Vitelli
Università di Roma II Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy

Funding: This work was supported by the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/IST and was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement.
The upgrade of JET to a new all-metal wall will pose a set of new challenges regarding machine operation and protection. One of the key problems is that the present way of terminating a pulse, upon the detection of a problem, is limited to a predefined set of global responses, tailored to maximise the likelihood of a safe plasma landing. With the new wall, these might conflict with the requirement of avoiding localised heat fluxes in the wall components. As a consequence, the new system will be capable of dynamically adapting its response behaviour, according to the experimental conditions at the time of the stop request and during the termination itself. Also in the context of the new ITER-like wall, two further upgrades were designed to be implemented in the shape controller architecture. The first will allow safer operation of the machine and consists of a power-supply current limit avoidance scheme, which provides a trade-off between the desired plasma shape and the current distribution between the relevant actuators. The second is aimed at an optimised operation of the machine, enabling an earlier formation of a special magnetic configuration where the last plasma closed flux surface is not defined by a physical limiter. The upgraded shape controller system, besides providing the new functionality, is expected to continue to provide the first line of defence against erroneous plasma position and current requests. This paper presents the required architectural changes to the JET plasma shape controller system.

Poster MOPMU035 [2.518 MB]

Paper	Title	Page
WEPMN014	The Software and Hardware Architectural Design of the Vessel Thermal Map Real-Time System in JET	905
	D. Alves, A. Neto, D.F. Valcárcel IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal G. Arnoux, P. Card, S. Devaux, R.C. Felton, A. Goodyear, D. Kinna, P.J. Lomas, P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen, K-D. Zastrow CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom S. Jachmich RMA, Brussels, Belgium
	The installation of ITER-relevant materials for the plasma facing components (PFCs) in the Joint European Torus (JET) is expected to have a strong impact on the operation and protection of the experiment. In particular, the use of all-beryllium tiles, which deteriorate at a substantially lower temperature than the formerly installed CFC tiles, imposes strict thermal restrictions on the PFCs during operation. Prompt and precise responses are therefore required whenever anomalous temperatures are detected. The new Vessel Thermal Map (VTM) real-time application collects the temperature measurements provided by dedicated pyrometers and Infra-Red (IR) cameras, groups them according to spatial location and probable offending heat source and raises alarms that will trigger appropriate protective responses. In the context of JET's global scheme for the protection of the new wall, the system is required to run on a 10 millisecond cycle communicating with other systems through the Real-Time Data Network (RTDN). In order to meet these requirements a Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solution has been adopted based on standard x86 multi-core technology, Linux and the Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) software framework. This paper presents an overview of the system with particular technical focus on the configuration of its real-time capability and the benefits of the modular development approach and advanced tools provided by the MARTe framework. See the Appendix of F. Romanelli et al., Proceedings of the 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference 2010, Daejeon, Korea
	Poster WEPMN014 [5.306 MB]

THDAULT06	MARTe Framework: a Middleware for Real-time Applications Development	1277
	A. Neto, D. Alves, B. Carvalho, P.J. Carvalho, H. Fernandes, D.F. Valcárcel IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal A. Barbalace, G. Manduchi Consorzio RFX, Associazione Euratom-ENEA sulla Fusione, Padova, Italy L. Boncagni ENEA C.R. Frascati, Frascati (Roma), Italy G. De Tommasi CREATE, Napoli, Italy P. McCullen, A.V. Stephen CCFE, Culham, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom F. Sartori F4E, Barcelona, Spain R. Vitelli Università di Roma II Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy L. Zabeo ITER Organization, St. Paul lez Durance, France
	Funding: This work was supported by the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/IST and was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement The Multi-threaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) is a C++ framework that provides a development environment for the design and deployment of real-time applications, e.g. control systems. The kernel of MARTe comprises a set of data-driven independent blocks, connected using a shared bus. This modular design enforces a clear boundary between algorithms, hardware interaction and system configuration. The architecture, being multi-platform, facilitates the test and commissioning of new systems, enabling the execution of plant models in offline environments and with the hardware-in-the-loop, whilst also providing a set of non-intrusive introspection and logging facilities. Furthermore, applications can be developed in non real-time environments and deployed in a real-time operating system, using exactly the same code and configuration data. The framework is already being used in several fusion experiments, with control cycles ranging from 50 microseconds to 10 milliseconds exhibiting jitters of less than 2%, using VxWorks, RTAI or Linux. Codes can also be developed and executed in Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X. This paper discusses the main design concepts of MARTe, in particular the architectural choices which enabled the combination of real-time accuracy, performance and robustness with complex and modular data driven applications.
	Slides THDAULT06 [1.535 MB]

FRAAULT04	Centralised Coordinated Control to Protect the JET ITER-like Wall.	1293
	A.V. Stephen, G. Arnoux, T. Budd, P. Card, R.C. Felton, A. Goodyear, J. Harling, D. Kinna, P.J. Lomas, P. McCullen, P.D. Thomas, I.D. Young, K-D. Zastrow CCFE, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom D. Alves, D.F. Valcárcel IST, Lisboa, Portugal S. Devaux MPI/IPP, Garching, Germany S. Jachmich RMA, Brussels, Belgium A. Neto IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal
	Funding: This work was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement. This work was also part-funded by the RCUK Energy Programme under grant EP/I501045. The JET ITER-like wall project replaces the first wall carbon fibre composite tiles with beryllium and tungsten tiles which should have improved fuel retention characteristics but are less thermally robust. An enhanced protection system using new control and diagnostic systems has been designed which can modify the pre-planned experimental control to protect the new wall. Key design challenges were to extend the Level-1 supervisory control system to allow configurable responses to thermal problems to be defined without introducing excessive complexity, and to integrate the new functionality with existing control and protection systems efficiently and reliably. Alarms are generated by the vessel thermal map (VTM) system if infra-red camera measurements of tile temperatures are too high and by the plasma wall load system (WALLS) if component power limits are exceeded. The design introduces two new concepts: local protection, which inhibits individual heating components but allows the discharge to proceed, and stop responses, which allow highly configurable early termination of the pulse in the safest way for the plasma conditions and type of alarm. These are implemented via the new real-time protection system (RTPS), a centralised controller which responds to the VTM and WALLS alarms by providing override commands to the plasma shape, current, density and heating controllers. This paper describes the design and implementation of the RTPS system which is built with the Multithreaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe) and will present results from initial operations.
	Slides FRAAULT04 [2.276 MB]

MOPMU035	Shape Controller Upgrades for the JET ITER-like Wall	514
	A. Neto, D. Alves, I.S. Carvalho IPFN, Lisbon, Portugal G. De Tommasi, F. Maviglia CREATE, Napoli, Italy R.C. Felton, P. McCullen EFDA-JET, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom P.J. Lomas, F. G. Rimini, A.V. Stephen, K-D. Zastrow CCFE, Culham, Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom R. Vitelli Università di Roma II Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy
	Funding: This work was supported by the European Communities under the contract of Association between EURATOM/IST and was carried out within the framework of the European Fusion Development Agreement. The upgrade of JET to a new all-metal wall will pose a set of new challenges regarding machine operation and protection. One of the key problems is that the present way of terminating a pulse, upon the detection of a problem, is limited to a predefined set of global responses, tailored to maximise the likelihood of a safe plasma landing. With the new wall, these might conflict with the requirement of avoiding localised heat fluxes in the wall components. As a consequence, the new system will be capable of dynamically adapting its response behaviour, according to the experimental conditions at the time of the stop request and during the termination itself. Also in the context of the new ITER-like wall, two further upgrades were designed to be implemented in the shape controller architecture. The first will allow safer operation of the machine and consists of a power-supply current limit avoidance scheme, which provides a trade-off between the desired plasma shape and the current distribution between the relevant actuators. The second is aimed at an optimised operation of the machine, enabling an earlier formation of a special magnetic configuration where the last plasma closed flux surface is not defined by a physical limiter. The upgraded shape controller system, besides providing the new functionality, is expected to continue to provide the first line of defence against erroneous plasma position and current requests. This paper presents the required architectural changes to the JET plasma shape controller system.
	Poster MOPMU035 [2.518 MB]