SNS LINAC RF control system

The SNS linac RF control system (RFCS) is currently in development. A system is being installed in a superconducting test stand at Jefferson Laboratory presently. Two systems will soon be installed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and more are due to be installed early next year. The RF control system provides field control for the entire SNS linac, including an RFQ and 6 DTL cavities at 402.5 MHz as well as three different types of cavities at of 805 MHz: 4 CCL cavities, 36 medium beta superconducting (SRF) cavities, and 45 high beta superconducting cavities. In addition to field control, it provides cavity resonance control, and incorporates high power protect functions. This paper will discuss the RFCS design to date, with emphasis on the challenges of providing a universal digital system for use on each of the individual cavity types. The RF control system hardware has been designed to minimize the amount of changes for all of the applications. Through software/firmware modification and changing a couple of frequency-dependent filters, the same control system design can be used for all five cavity types. The SNS is the first to utilize SRF cavities for a pulsed high-current proton accelerator, thereby making RF control especially challenging.