THE 32 BIT TIMING UNIT OF A REAL-TIME EVENT-BASED CONTROL-SYSTEM FOR A NUCLEAR-FUSION EXPERIMENT

This paper describes the innovative timing unit of a distributed, expa ndable, real-time, event-based control system for a nuclear fusion exp eriment. This system is being designed in a tree-type topology, based in VME and CAMAC format modules that produce the timing signals requir ed for the safe operation of the experiment diagnostics and digitizers . It also performs the broadcasting, processing and recording of the o ccurrence of externally generated events for real-time control purpose s. The timing unit has been implemented in a field programmable gate a rray, providing flexibility and the ability to upgrade the design. The timing signals can be defined with 32 bit resolution to produce signa ls from 100 ns width and to about 430 s maximum duration with 500 ns a ccuracy, and will provide the possibility of immediate event processin g.