The control and data acquisition software for the gamma-ray spectroscopy ATCA sub-systems of the JET-EP2 enhancements

A local control and data acquisition (CDAQ) sub-system for gamma-ray spectroscopy diagnostics is being developed for the JET-EP2 enhancements. The Hardware implementation is based on the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture™ (ATCA™) and will permit acquisition at a very high count rate (up to few MHz) with digital pulse processing (DPP) on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) performing pulse height analysis (PHA), pulse shape discrimination (PSD) and pile-up rejection (PUR) algorithms. This paper presents the CDAQ software implementation, which is based on the FireSignal platform developed by the Euratom/IST Association. The FireSignal is based on a client/server modular approach, where both the server and the hardware clients are defined by a generic XML description. Its event-driven operation is dynamic thereby permitting continuous control and data acquisition and 'plug-and-play' of clients/hardware. The FireSignal is being extended to interface the diagnostic sub-systems to the JET CODAS HTTP data/event transport layer and to integrate the diagnostics specific requirements including the hardware device drivers, real-time spectroscopy processing and local control operation. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.