Overview of the HIDRA Control System with Integrated Diagnostic Trigger System

The Hybrid Illinois Device for Research and Applications (HIDRA) is a medium-sized fusion device that can operate in both stellarator and tokamak modes. A device like HIDRA requires a control system to command every feature of the machine adequately and in a safe manner. Safely controlling the machine is done remotely through the HIDRA Control System (HCS) which controls the toroidal and helical fields, and diagnostic systems. The HCS allows the operator to set the field profiles for each experiment, execute the profiles, and then monitor them in real-time to confirm the machine is behaving as expected. In addition to field profile control, a diagnostic trigger system has been integrated into the HCS. The trigger system utilizes an NI PCI-6601 to start data collection, at user determined times, on four oscilloscopes connected to plasma diagnostics. The HCS software maintains the safe operation of HIDRA and is continuously being developed towards full functionality with all of HIDRA’s diagnostic and data collection systems.