Fast elaboration of diagnostic data for real time control in FTU tokamak

Abstract

The automatic controller developed for MHD instability control on FTU via the real time (RT) EC launcher [1, 2] is based on the a-priori estimate of the instabilities location and on the fast elaboration of the stream of diagnostic data. A fast data acquisition system, based on existing standard FTU diagnostics, collects thermal and magnetic signals by a 12-channels ECE polychromator [3] and by a set of 22 Mirnov coils respectively. Moreover, the EC time waveform from directional couplers along the transmission line is acquired as well. This set of signals is processed in a timescale significantly shorter than the typical time step of the controller (1ms). RT elaboration algorithms aim at supplying the controller [4] with reliable information about the existence and the spatial location of the instability and about the actual ECRH deposition layer in plasma. The main algorithms blocks are ECE-ECE, ECE-Mirnov and ECE-ECRH cross-correlation, and SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) of Mirnov signals. The capabilities of effective detection, false positive resilience, and mode discrimination will be discussed through the application to actual plasma data. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2012.