Multiple Fast Controller Synchronization for ITER Control System Model

ITER control system model (ICM) is a currently developed simulation platform for control, data access, and communication (CODAC), which is a central control system responsible for integrating and controlling all plant systems of ITER. ICM is a large-scale implementation of CODAC that follows hardware and software standards but does not have any interfaces to other physical components of ITER. ICM will serve as an excellent test environment for performance and scalability of upcoming plant system modules and new releases of CODAC software. This paper focuses on performance and reliability of the real-time components of ICM, consisting of eight fast controllers connected over physical networks and their dedicated high-performance switches. Two crucial ITER requirements are satisfied with 12.4-μs 1-kB packet transfer latency and system clock synchronization with a standard deviation as low as 16.7 ns. This performance evaluation is required for demonstrating the reliability of the CODAC infrastructure and gathering important data for considering future plant system modules.