Tune measurement for the CERN proton synchrotron booster rings using DSP in VME

The CERN PS Booster (PSB) consists of 4 superposed rings supplied with protons from a 50 MeV Linac. The proton beam is then accelerated to 1 GeV and sent either to the 26 GeV Proton Synchrotron (PS) or to the ISOLDE facility. This is carried out in a multi-cycle mode every 1.2 s. For high-intensity beams, the working-point in the tune diagram needs to be changed considerably during acceleration from 50 MeV to 1 GeV and the repeated measurement of the tunes throughout the cycle is an important requirement. Up to now, tune values were obtained through calculations based on quadrupole currents. However, practical experience has shown the need for a direct tune measurement system. For this purpose, a classical kick technique is used. A fixed amplitude kick of duration equal to one revolution period excites coherent betatron oscillations. For fast treatment, a digital signal processing (DSP) module in a VME standard crate was selected. It carries out the fast Fourier transform (FFT) analyses of signals from position-sensitive pickups in both planes and evaluates the tunes. These measurements are carried out every 10 ms during the 450 ms acceleration ramp. The paper presents the novel features of this system, particularly the beam-offset signal suppression as well as the peak-search algorithm which yields the tune values.