Data acquisition and control system for SMARTEX - C

A PXI based data acquisition system has been developed for Small Aspect Ratio Toroidal Experiment in C - shaped geometry (SMARTEX - C), a device to create and confine non-neutral plasma. The data acquisition system (DAQ) includes PXI based data acquisition cards, communication card, chassis, Optical fiber link, a dedicated computer, a trigger circuit (TC) and a voltage comparator. In this paper, we report the development of a comprehensive code in LabVIEW® - 2012 software in order to control the operation of SMARTEX - C as well as to acquire the experimental data from it. The code has been incorporated with features like configuration of card parameters. A hardware based control sequence involving TC has also been developed and integrated with the DAQ. In the acquisition part, the data from an experimental shot is acquired when a digital pulse from one of the PXI cards triggers TC, which further triggers the TF - power supply and rest of the DAQ. The data hence acquired, is stored in the hard disc in binary format for further analysis.