Open source solutions in control and data acquisition systems: FTU case studies

As in any other long-lasting experiment, new and standard activities on Frascati Tokamak Upgrade may require technological updates, especially on the control and data acquisition domain.The present paper will deal with a set of experiences arising from the necessity to replace ageing systems that turned out to be an interesting test-bed for new technologies.The first case study deals with FTU slow control, which is based on a standard three-layer model. The lower layer has been updated in the G1 power supply of the toroidal field, replacing the old Westinghouse PLC with a Siemens-S7. To integrate the new PLC in FTU control system, the open source LibNodave package under Linux operating system has been used. The results are compared to those obtained using the Siemens-S7 commercial library.The second case study regards FTU magnetic measurements. The system proposed will lead to the replacement of the old CAMAC system with a PXI embedded controller, acquiring hundreds of signals.Finally it will be shown how, taking advantage of those technologies, an ITER relevant control and data acquisition architecture can be designed.