The DIII-D Neutral Beam Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition workstation upgrade

The DIII-D Neutral Beam Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (NB SCADA) system is responsible for data and status communication between remote system devices. Some years ago, it was operated and controlled on a 486 PC with Microsoft Windows 3.1. A 16-bit software package called FIXDMACS was used to interface and communicate with Siemens programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Due to the ever-changing operation requirements, this system became antiquated and failed to adequately support new process conditions and meet the NB operational demands. It was, therefore, inevitable that a system upgrade would be needed to satisfy efficiency and performance. This project required a comprehensive survey of available hardware and software currently offered by the leading industries. The best solution was a complete replacement of the entire workstation. A new Dell Pentium III PC, equipped with Windows NT, was acquired to replace the old SCADA system. FIXDMACS was replaced by scalable iFIX, which was also developed by Intellution. In addition, data migration and conversion was performed to enable forward compatibility of all existing software and system configurations. Besides delivering an excellent solution to monitoring the neutral beam system operations, iFIX is able to accept Microsoft Visual Basic scripts and programs to automate routine or repetitive tasks, allowing system administrators to execute these tasks and controls quickly. This added feature provides flexibility and simplicity for maintaining and troubleshooting purposes. Although additional improvements are always possible as with all other software products, iFIX has proven to be a valuable tool in supporting the operations. Packaged with essential enhancements, new capabilities and powerful tools, Intellution has developed an application that certainly surpasses its predecessor. Today, the upgraded DIII-D Neutral Beam SCADA system is fully operational. Both hardware and software upgrades were a cost effective and necessary approach toward achieving the goals of maximizing system performance, improving efficiency and reliability, and providing better control of the neutral beam operational processes.