Shot planning and analysis tools on the NIF project

Shot planning and analysis tools (SPLAT) integrate components necessary to help achieve a high over-all operational efficiency of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) by combining near and long-term shot planning, final optics demand and supply loops, target diagnostics planning, and target fabrication requirements. Currently, the SPLAT project is comprised of two primary tool suites for shot planning and optics demand. The shot planning component provides a web-based interface to selecting and building a sequence of proposed shots for the NIF. These shot sequences, or “lanes” as they are referred to by shot planners, provide for planning both near-term shots in the Facility and long-term “campaigns” in the months and years to come. The shot planning capabilities integrate with the Campaign Management Tool (CMT) for experiment details and the NIF calendar for availability. Future enhancements will additionally integrate with target diagnostics planning and target fabrication requirements tools. The optics demand component is built upon predictive modeling of maintenance requirements on the final optics as a result of the proposed shots assembled during shot planning. The predictive models integrate energetics from a Laser Performance Operations Model (LPOM), the status of the deployed optics as provided by the online Final Optics Inspection system, and physics-based mathematical “rules” that predict optic flaw growth and new flaw initiations. These models are then run on an analytical cluster comprised of forty-eight Linux-based compute nodes. Results from the predictive models are used to produce decision-support reports in the areas of optics inspection planning, optics maintenance exchanges, and optics beam blocker placement advisories. Over time, the SPLAT project will evolve to provide a variety of decision-support and operation optimization tools.

► Target shots in NIF, dozens a month, vary widely in laser and target configuration.
► A planning tool helps select shot sequences that optimize valuable facility time.
► Fabrication and supply of targets, diagnostics, etc. are integrated into the plan.
► Predictive modeling of aging parts (e.g., optics) aids maintenance decision support.
► We describe the planning/analysis tool and its use in NIF experimental operations.