Development and Integration of a Data Acquisition System for SST-1 Phase-1 Plasma Diagnostics

Event driven high speed data acquisition with IEEE 1588 synchronization for long pulse operations of Indian Test Facility for ITER DNB

Building the machines that advance scientific knowledge is one of the most significant challenges of our time. So-called Big Science instruments are unique; the expertise required to build them is multidisciplinary, and few countries can build and maintain them. Since resources and budgets are not unlimited, these require efficient solutions. Big Science machines take a decade to plan, a decade to build, and at least a decade to operate. One such machine is the largest fusion reactor project, ITER, which promises to be the next step in fusion research and has a big challenge in system integration. To mitigate the integration effort, ITER has invested in standardization, both in software and hardware, introducing standard instrumentation software named Nominal Device Support (NDSv3); Micro Telecommunication Computing Architecture (MTCA) as the long-term hardware standard choice, and EPICS as a general-purpose distributed control system. These control systems are essential in the management of the facility. They provide functions such as communication protocols, process management, monitoring, alarms, and human-machine interfaces. But also, more advanced access to databases or data acquisition systems. The latter is typically managed by a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), of which facilities can easily have thousands of these FPGAs managing millions of signals within the control system environment. Nevertheless, these FPGA data acquisition (DAQ) systems continue to be labor-intensive. Standardized, modular, and open-source frameworks have been proposed to solve this problem, however, the FPGA programming expertise requirement remained. This thesis proposes a complete technology stack that considers these DAQ systems from the control system to the hardware. It provides a methodology using the Open Computing Language (OpenCL) to reduce the FPGA programming effort. The FPGA devices are programmed using C/C++-like environments, which are much simpler than traditional Hardware Description Languages (HDLs). The software, named IRIO-OpenCL, is written in C++ following ITER's NDSv3 model, which abstracts and generalizes the development of software device drivers and simplifies the interface to EPICS. IRIO-OpenCL is specifically designed to simplify the integration of intelligent instrumentation systems, allowing the integration of algorithms into the FPGA without modifying large parts of the supporting library. The MTCA standard was chosen to maintain modularity. The chassis backplane connects to the devices via Ethernet and PCIe, enabling standard communications. The Advanced Mezzanine Card is the typical MTCA FPGA-based DAQ carrier board. It connects the FPGA to the chassis backplane and typically provides FPGA Mezzanine Connectors (FMCs) for plugging in analog-to-digital (ADC) carrier boards. An ADC connected via the FMC interface samples the analog signals passed to the OpenCL processing kernels. Using OpenCL, the FPGA kernels communicate with the host machine in a standardized way. To demonstrate the applicability of this methodology, reference problems were selected from the literature and implemented, both with traditional and deep learning (DL) solutions. The methodology elaborates on connecting the OpenCL kernels for any use case, and the results show examples of kernel sets. The neutron flux measurement problem is solved at 1GS/s in real time using pulse counting and Campbell techniques, using 40% of the target Arria10 FPGA. The DL application example is based on a neutron/gamma discrimination neural network (NN) that achieves a classification rate of up to 1.3 MEvents/s using less than 25% of the target resource. RESUMEN Construir máquinas que avancen el conocimiento científico es uno de los desafíos más significativos de nuestro tiempo. Los instrumentos de la llamada Big Science son únicos; las competencias requeridas para su construcción son multidisciplinares, y pocos países pueden construirlos y mantenerlos. Dado que los recursos y presupuestos no son ilimitados, estos requieren soluciones eficientes. Las máquinas de Gran Ciencia tardan una década en planificarse, una década en construirse y al menos una década en operarse. Una de estas máquinas es el proyecto del reactor de fusión más grande, ITER, que promete ser el siguiente paso en la investigación de fusión y presenta un gran desafío en la integración de sistemas. Para mitigar el esfuerzo de integración, ITER ha invertido en estandarización, tanto en software como en hardware, introduciendo un software de instrumentación estándar llamado Nominal Device Support v3 (NDSv3); Micro Telecommunication Computing Architecture (MTCA) como la elección estándar de hardware a largo plazo, y EPICS como un sistema de control distribuido de propósito general. Estos sistemas de control son esenciales en la gestión de la instalación ya que proporcionan funciones como protocolos de comunicación, gestión de procesos, monitorización, alarmas e interfaces de usuario, además de acceso avanzado a bases de datos o sistemas de adquisición de datos. Este último es típicamente gestionado por un Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), de los cuales las instalaciones pueden tener fácilmente miles de unidades gestionando millones de señales dentro del entorno del sistema de control. Estos sistemas de adquisición de datos (DAQ) con FPGA siguen requiriendo programación experta y laboriosa. Se han propuesto marcos estandarizados, modulares y de código abierto para resolver este problema, sin embargo, la necesidad de experiencia en programación FPGA no se ha podido eludir. Esta tesis propone una pila de tecnologías que considera estos sistemas DAQ desde el sistema de control hasta el hardware. Proporciona una metodología utilizando el Open Computing Language (OpenCL) para reducir el esfuerzo de programación FPGA. Los dispositivos FPGA se programan utilizando entornos similares a C/C++, que son mucho más simples que los Lenguajes de Descripción de Hardware (HDL) tradicionales. El software, llamado IRIO-OpenCL, está escrito en C++ siguiendo el modelo de NDSv3 de ITER, que abstrae y generaliza el desarrollo de controladores de dispositivos de software y simplifica la interfaz con EPICS. IRIO-OpenCL está específicamente diseñado para simplificar la integración de sistemas de instrumentación inteligentes, permitiendo la integración de algoritmos en el FPGA sin modificar grandes partes de la biblioteca de soporte. El estándar MTCA fue elegido para mantener la modularidad. El backplane del chasis se conecta a los dispositivos a través de Ethernet y PCIe, habilitando comunicaciones estándar. La Advanced Mezzanine Card es la placa portadora DAQ FPGA típica de MTCA, que conecta el FPGA al backplane del chasis y típicamente proporciona FPGA Mezzanine Connectors (FMC) para conectar placas con conversores analógico-digitales (ADC). Un ADC conectado a través de la interfaz FMC muestrea las señales analógicas pasadas a los núcleos de procesamiento OpenCL. Utilizando OpenCL, los núcleos FPGA se comunican con la máquina anfitriona de una manera estandarizada. Para demostrar la aplicabilidad de esta metodología, se seleccionaron e implementaron problemas de referencia de la literatura, tanto con soluciones tradicionales como de Deep Learning (DL). La metodología elabora ejemplos de conexión de núcleos OpenCL para cualquier caso de uso, y los resultados muestran ejemplos de conjuntos de núcleos. El problema de medición del flujo de neutrones se resuelve a 1GS/s en tiempo real utilizando técnicas de conteo de pulsos y Campbell, utilizando el 40% del objetivo FPGA Arria10. El ejemplo de aplicación DL se basa en una red neuronal para la discriminación neutrones/gammas que logra una tasa de clasificación de hasta 1.3 MEventos/s utilizando menos del 25% de la FPGA objetivo. LABURPENA Ezagutza zientifikoa aurreratzen duten makinak eraikitzea gure garaiko erronka garrantzitsuenetako bat da. Big Science deritzonaren makinak bakarrak dira; beharrezko esperientzia diziplina anitzekoa da, eta herrialde gutxik eraiki eta mantendu ditzakete. Baliabideak eta aurrekontuak mugagabeak ez direnez, konponbide eraginkorrak behar dira. Zientzia Handi makinak hamarkada bat behar dute diseinatuak izateko, hamarkada bat eraikitzeko eta gutxienez hamarkada bat jarduteko. Makina horietako bat fusio-erreaktore handienaren proiektua da, ITER, fusio-ikerketan hurrengo urratsa izango dena eta sistemak integratzeko erronka handia aurkezten duena. Integrazio-ahalegina arintzeko, ITERek estandarizazioan inbertitu du, bai softwarean bai - eta EPICS helburu orokorreko kontrol-sistema banatua. Kontrol-sistema horiek funtsezkoak dira instalazioa kudeatzeko. Komunikazio-protokoloak, prozesuen kudeaketa, monitorizazioa, alarmak eta pertsona-makina interfazeak bezalako funtzioak ematen dituzte, datubaseetarako edo datuak eskuratzeko sistemetarako sarbide aurreratua izateaz gain. Azken hori "Field Programmable Gate Array" (FPGA) batek kudeatzen du, milaka FPGA konektatuz makina bakoitzean eta kontrol-sistemaz milioika seinale kudeatuz. FPGA duten datuak eskuratzeko sistemek (DAQ) programazio aditua eta neketsua eskatzen jarraitzen dute. Problema hori ebazteko marko estandarizatuak, modularrak eta kode irekikoak proposatu dira, hala ere, FPGA hardware programazio espezializatuaren beharra ezin izan da ukatu. Tesi honek DAQ sistema hauek kontrol sistematik hardwareraino kontsideratuz teknologia bilduma bat programazio-ahalegina murrizten du. FPGA gailuak C/C++ antzeko inguruneak erabiliz programatzen dira, - OpenCL izenekoa, C++n idatzita dago, ITERren "Nominal Device Support v3" (NDSv3) eredua jarraituz. Honek software-gailuen garapena diseinu abstraktu eta orokorrez EPICSekiko interfazea sinplifikatzen du. IRIOOpenCL berariaz diseinatuta dago instrumentazio-sistema adimendunen integrazioa sinplifikatzeko, eta algoritmoak FPGAn integratzea ahalbidetzen du, software zati handiak aldatu gabe. Modularitateari eusteko, MTCA estandarra aukeratu da. Txasisaren backplanea Ethernet eta PCIe bidez konektatzen da gailuetara, komunikazio estandarrak gaituz. "Advanced Mezzanine Card" MTCAren ohiko DAQ FPGA plaka eramailea da. FPGA txasisaren backplanera konektatzen du eta, normalean, "FPGA Mezzanine Connectors"ak (FMC) ditu plaka bihurgailu analogiko-digitalak (ADC) konektatzeko. ADCak, FMC interfazearen bidez konektatuta, OpenCL prozesatze-nukleoetara igarotako seinale analogikoak bihurtzen ditu. OpenCL erabiliz, FPGA nukleoak ordenagailuarekin modu estandarizatuan komunikatzen dira. Metodologia horren aplikagarritasuna egiaztatzeko, erreferentziazko adibideak literaturatik hautatu eta nukleoen konexio-adibideak egiten ditu, edozein kasutan erabiltzeko, eta emaitzek nukleo multzoen adibideak erakusten dituzte. Neutroi-fluxuaren neurketak 1GS/s-ko ebazten dira real time errendimenduaz, pultsuak eta Campbell zenbatzeko teknikak erabiliz, Arria10 FPGAren % 40 erabiliz. Azkenik, DL aplikazioaren adibidea, neutroi/gamma sailkapena, sare neuronal batean oinarritzen da, eta FPGAren baliabideen % 25 baino gutxiago erabiliz 1.3 MSailkapen/s sailkapen-tasa lortzen du.

A Data Acquisition (DAQ) system has become to be used in the field of large-scale scientific experiments with the advance of information technology. Especially, in DAQ System for a high energy physics experiment such as ATLAS experiment at CERN, parallel processing using a large number of network switches enhances the efficiency of acquiring and analyzing experimental data. Additionally, a DAQ system has many-to-one simultaneous communication that gathers data generated by a large number of detectors into one computer for analysis. Properties of such communication can cause network traffic congestions and packet losses, thereby decreasing throughput. One solution for such problem is Data Center Bridging (DCB) technology used to establish lossless Ethernet networks. In addition, since event fragments in a large-scale DAQ system are transmitted using many network switches, the buffer size of a network switch is critical. This study focuses on the queue of the network switch of a DAQ system using DCB and the effects on system performance. The fairness and throughput of each flow in many-to-one simultaneous communication system were measured. We confirmed maximum performance was achieved when an average queue length in the network switch was small.

Continuous and real-time data acquisition system for superconducting tokamaks HT-7 and TRIAM-1M

Service-oriented architecture of adaptive, intelligent data acquisition and processing systems for long-pulse fusion experiments

Data collection and analysis is vital for evaluating the performance of any equipment or system. Though the methodology of collection, transmission, storage and retrieval varies in different scenarios, the basic components of the set-up remain the same. The Data Acquisition and Monitoring System evolved from the need for remote monitoring of facilities that did not have an independent reliable infrastructure to implement a full-fledged SCADA system. Back when IT infrastructure was prioritized for business communications within the limited bandwidth allocated, collection and transmission of process data through the available network infrastructure was a challenge. More so when there are concerns regarding the confidentiality of data being collected and transmitted. Individual facilities were provided with local instrumentation and controls for reliable operations. With the growing production rates, the focus generally goes for improving the processing facilities rather than reading, reporting or recording. Instead of an independent dedicated network for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system that mandate a huge infrastructural cost and dedicated skilled personnel, a pilot project was initiated with a minimum budget to test data transfer through existing communication network. Field transmitters were installed on Wellheads, Risers and Manifolds and Remote Terminal Units were provided to collect data from two platforms and to facilitate data transfer to the servers through existing microwave communication network with minimum field instrumentation. Considering bandwidth limitations and priority for business communications, servers in redundant configuration were placed strategically to ensure continuous data gathering. Pilot project was successful in providing reliable data and trends with minimum disruptions. Augmentation of DAMS network was envisioned to implement Digital Oil Field for monitoring multiple assets in real time. Implementation of Digital Oil Field continued with the addition of new field instrumentation and RTUs followed by server upgrades and integration of PLC based platform control systems to add four major producing platforms to the Data Acquisition and Monitoring System through existing microwave communication network. Upon successful commissioning, it was possible to gather data from various wellheads, process equipment and other independent meters for remote real time monitoring and analysis through user friendly HMI screens and customized dashboards to manage multiple assets effectively, improving performance evaluation, safety and reliability of operations.

The Boeing Company is designing, developing and manufacturing the Core Stage and Avionics for NASA's heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), which will support missions beyond low earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo days. On the SLS vehicle many sensors are selected and used to provide critical information for testing, ground operations, and vehicle flight environments. Appropriate data acquisition systems that can interface and process the selected sensors is important to the success of the program. In this program, multiple data acquisition systems are used to interface with sensors at various development stages of the SLS vehicle, and at different sensor criticality levels. These phased configurations of data acquisition classes and complexity range from gathering sensor data during system level testing at Stennis Space Center (SSC), to transmitting flight information after liftoff at the Kennedy Space Center. One challenge that engineers are faced with pertains to how the data acquisition system is defined prior to understanding the quantity and type of sensors required for the application. This paper focuses mainly on the SLS flight system and provides a general overview of the system architecture. The paper also addresses the strategy used to define the data acquisition system, along with the methodology for selecting data acquisition cards that fit with the application.

The DAQ group of KENS has developing a data acquisition (DAQ) system for neutron scattering experiments in the MLF/J-PARC. The DAQ system has adopting the event-mode data taking instead of a conventional histogram-mode data taking to expand flexibility of measurements. The KENS-DAQ group, therefore, has developed the new DAQ system so called a NeuNET system for 3He PSD. The NeuNET system is realized scalable and distributed DAQ system by using electronics modules with a high speed network data transfer technique and software which based on component middleware.

A data acquisition system is required to interpret the electrical signals produced by radiation detectors when a gamma ray, neutron or other radiation type interacts with it. The data acquisition system can take on many forms to match the wide variety of radiation detector types available and the different ways in which the signals from these detectors can be processed to give information on the detected radiation. First presented is a detailed overview of a variety of analog data acquisition topologies ranging from simple radiation event counters through to pulse shape discrimination. A comparison is then made with the digital counterparts of these data acquisition topologies, highlighting the relative merits and shortcomings of both analog and digital implementations. Next, the important factors relating to how data is processed, stored and transferred through different stages of a data acquisition chain is discussed and suggestions given on how to avoid bottle-necks and ensure balanced data flow throughout the system. Also discussed are the key challenges associated with the design and configuration of data acquisition systems for active interrogation (AI) environments such as dealing with the high event rates, capturing the time development of active radiation signatures, and techniques for working with pulsed interrogating sources.

The Simons Array upgrades the POLARBEAR experiment, which measures the cosmic microwave background from the Atacama Desert in Chile, with three newly developed receivers. Each receiver has 7,588 transition-edge sensor bolometers with a raw data rate of approximately 20 MB/s. This significantly increased data rate required us to develop a new data-acquisition (DAQ) and data-management system. As the network bandwidth from our observatory to our data-storage sites outside Chile is not high enough to send all the raw data, we compress the raw data on-site. The expected yearly compressed data rate is approximately 60 TB from each receiver. We have also developed a new housekeeping DAQ system. The new housekeeping DAQ system is a distributed system to handle the various newly added monitoring systems and to better understand our instruments and environments. Those data can also be fetched by another module for real-time monitoring of our instrument from all over the world with latencies on the order of minutes. We deployed the first receiver in late 2018 and started the commissioning of the DAQ system. The DAQ system has been working without significant problems and already accumulates a considerable amount of the new receiver data from the commissioning observations. In this presentation, we summarize and report the status of the new systems.

The ghost imaging is a new field in the research of the quantum nature of light. The long-distance reflective ghost imaging experiment with thermal light is suit for remote sensing with a high practicability. A real-time data acquisition (DAQ) system is presented for the experiment. In the setup, the light from source is separated into signal beam and reference beam. The signal beam which illuminates the target is collected by a bucket detector. The reference beam is directly captured by an area detector. The DAQ system employs a photo-multiplier tube as the bucket detector and a charge-coupled device camera as the area detector. The two detectors separately detect intensity fluctuations of two light beams. Meanwhile, the DAQ system implements high-speed and high-precision data acquisition and data processing to reconstruct the image of the target. The results of electronic tests and experiments show that the DAQ system satisfies the requirements of the experiment.

Research on high-speed data acquisition system of negative ion source breakdown

With the rapid development of the WoT, acquisition requirements to the data grow with each passing day. However, the existing data acquisition systems usually use the upload mode. Uploading data not only takes a lot of time, but also requires staff to continuously monitor on duty. Aiming at the problem of enterprise management data acquisition, a WoT-based enterprise management data acquisition and analysis system is constructed. The system obtains multiple monitoring data through the data acquisition module and integrates these data through the processing module, which can solve the problems of traditional data acquisition systems. In order to effectively fuse data, based on canonical correlation analysis (CCA), the multiple order statistics correlation discrimination analysis algorithm is proposed as a fusion strategy. Experimental results show that the fusion strategy based on CCA can effectively integrate monitoring data and accurately identify different characters.

We present a real-time data acquisition (DAQ) system for the long-distance reflective ghost imaging experiment which has broad application prospects in remote sensing. In the experimental setup, the light from a pseudo thermal light source is separated into signal beam and reference beam. The signal beam illuminates the target, and then the reflected light is collected by a bucket detector. In the mean time, the reference beam is directly captured by an area detector. In order to obtain the target image, the experiment requires high-speed and high-precision correlated data acquisition to collect the light intensity fluctuation in the signal beam and the reference beam. Furthermore, to reduce imaging time, real-time data acquisition is also required. The DAQ system consists of a photon-multiplier tube (PMT), a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, a DAQ module and DAQ software. The CCD camera as the area detector connects to computer via Gigabit Ethernet. The PMT and a telescope compose the bucket detector which outputs signals to the DAQ module. The DAQ module sends acquired data to computer through universal serial bus (USB). The DAQ software collects the data and reconstructs the target image. The results of electronic tests and experiments show that the DAQ system satisfies the requirements of the experiment.

Development of a pipelined data acquisition system for experiments at J-PARC