First operation of RFX-mod real-time control system

A new distributed, computer-based system has been developed to handle the real-time requirements of the RFX-mod machine control. The system is currently in use during the experiment activity. As it allows a large variety of options in terms of real-time analysis and control schemes, its commissioning has been carried out in three phases: equilibrium control, toroidal field control, and MHD mode control. The paper describes briefly the system architecture with reference to the key feature of the real-time system implementation and comments on the advantages and limits of the design choices with reference to the current system operation. Later-on, the main algorithms implemented in the system are presented and the first operation with plasma is described. It finally reports the results achieved during operation and discusses some guidelines for possible future improvement. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.