A CAMAC based system for an electromagnetic isotope separator

Considering the new emplacement of the isotope seperator close to the 20 UD tandem, an entirely new control and monitoring system was conceived. The system is built around a CAMAC serial highway driven by a microprocessor based crate controller developed in our laboratory. Because the ion source and its power supplies are at a 100 kV off ground potential, a fiber optic link is used for the serial highway. At the control console a TV monitor and a light pen allow the assignment of four parameters to a set of two meters and two knobs. The hardware and software organization of the system is described together with the technique used in spark protection for CAMAC modules and associated circuitry. (orig.)