Automatic beam steering in the CERN PS Complex

The recombination, transfer and injection of the four beams from the PS Booster to the PS Main Ring, have a high level of intricacy and are a subject of permanent concern for the operation of the PS Injector Complex. These tasks were thus selected as a test bench for the implementation of a prototype of an automatic beam steering system. The core of the system is based on a generic trajectory optimizer, robust enough to cope with imperfect observations. The algorithmic engine is connected to pick-up monitors and corrector magnets and its decision can be validated by the operator through a graphics user interface. Automatic beam steering can only be efficient if the beam optics is fully confirmed by experimental observations, a condition which forces the systematic elimination of errors both in hardware and software.