PC-Link historical data base system MODCOMP/IBM at link for neutral particle beam operation

PC-Link is a combination of hardware and software that connects an IBM PC/AT to a MODCOMP minicomputer. It is designed as an aid to the Neutral Beam operations coordinator during injection into the DIII-D tokamak project. An IBM PC/AT is linked to 4 MODCOMP realtime acquisition systems, each of which controls 2 neutral particle beam sources. At various points in the shot sequence, data is sent to the IBM PC/AT. This data can then be integrated with the data from the other sources into tables or graphics displays for use by the Beam Coordinator. In this way, the coordinator gets realtime feedback on the relative settings and performance of the sources and can observe trends within a particular source at one location. The PC-Link is used for observing relative timing information and for post shot historical archiving. The concept of the PC-Link was originally proposed several years ago. In April 1988, in-house implementation of the link software was begun. The PC-Link receives approximately 2 Kbytes of data per source per shot. This data is converted from MODCOMP format to IBM PC format and archived to disk. The last 280 shots per source are stored to disk to observe trends. The data can be displayed in a number of formats depending upon the situation. For example, prior to a shot, the beam MODCOMPs are sent timing information from the DIII-D tokamak control system. This data is echoed on the PC in a graphical representation displaying all 8 sources. At the end of the shot, the actual running times are displayed along with the requested settings. Any subset of the Historical data may be displayed either graphically or in tables for realtime comparisons between sources. 4 figs