An embedded power supply controller

Several different models of high current power supplies are used to test accelerator magnets at the Fermilab's Development and Test Department (D&TD). Department-wide standardization of current control and monitoring has been achieved by embedding a proprietary intelligent device into each of these power supplies. The device is based on a highly integrated Intel 87C196 microcontroller that is used to control and monitor current, collect status information, issue control signals and communicate with a host computer. The controller interfaces with a power supply via onboard high precision ADC and DAC converters, and digital I/O registers. Some of the advanced features of the system include: downloading and interpreting of complex ramp profiles, built-in parabolic waveform approximation, external triggering, and fiber-optic communication media. Network access is enabled by an extensive set of UNIX tools such as GUI, ramp profile simulator, API library, and shell programming tools.