The SLAC Beam Switchyard Control Computer

A computer system has been developed at SLAC in the beam switchyard for on-line beam transport control. The system consists of an SDS '925' computer and various specially designed interface devices. The system scans and records changes in interlocks and status signals; sets up, monitors, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 1967, Vol.14 (3), p.1066-1070, Article 1066
Main Authors: Howry, S. K., Scholl, R., Seppi, E. J., Hu, M., Neet, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collimators
Communication switching
Computer aided instruction
Computer displays
Control systems
Linear accelerators
Magnetic switching
Particle beams
Switches
Teleprinting
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Summary:A computer system has been developed at SLAC in the beam switchyard for on-line beam transport control. The system consists of an SDS '925' computer and various specially designed interface devices. The system scans and records changes in interlocks and status signals; sets up, monitors, and maintains magnet currents and controls collimator and slit apertures. In addition to standard card and teletype input-output, the system has special panels for operator control of magnet currents and slit and collimator settings. A link to another computer provides for remote information access and control for experimenters. An important feature of the system is the operator oriented language which is provided for operator/computer interaction. The language is arranged so that an inadvertent action of the operator cannot adversely affect the computer program. A single computer instruction can vary a group of magnets simultaneously to change the beam energy while maintaining a given beam focussing condition. A fine-tune control has been provided so that the current in an arbitrary group can be controlled by a single switch. The operator can write instructions in the language which are synchronized in time to 1/360 of a second, and/or repeated at prescribed time intervals.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/TNS.1967.4324707