XSC tools: A software suite for tokamak plasma shape control design and validation

This paper describes a set of graphic tools for the design and validation of the new plasma shape controller [eXtreme Shape Controller (XSC)], which has been recently implemented at the Joint European Torus tokamak. The XSC enables operation with high elongation and high triangularity plasmas. The software suite, which is called XSC Tools, has been developed to automate the design procedure of the XSC. These tools make use of graphic user interfaces to allow the nonspecialist users to prepare for new operative scenarios, without the help from modeling and control specialists. Once a new controller is generated, all its parameters are saved into a text file, which is used to perform the validation of the scenario via simulations. The same file is then loaded by the real-time code running on the plant, without any further processing. This feature guarantees that the controller, which is running on the plant, is exactly the same one validated through simulations. An additional effort has been made in order to make the XSC Tools machine independent, i.e., to enable their use on the different tokamaks. © 2007 IEEE.