Testing and interfacing intelligent power supplies for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Accelerator Complex

New high-current, high-precision microprocessor-controlled power supplies have been installed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Accelerator Complex. Each unit has sophisticated microprocessor control onboard and communicates via RS-422 (serial communications). The units use a high-level ASCII-based control protocol. Performance tests are conducted to verify adherence to specification and to ascertain ultimate long-term stability. The front-end software used by the accelerator control system is written to accommodate these new devices. The supplies are interfaced to the control system through a terminal server port connected to the site-width Ethernet backbone. Test design and results, as well as details of the software implementation for the analog and digital control of the supplies through the accelerator control system, are presented.<
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