Development of a Fast Camera Diagnostic Platform for Real-time Control Applications

开发用于实时控制应用的快速相机诊断平台

• 批准号: 2877223
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Durham University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2877223
• 关键词: Development; Fast; Camera; Diagnostic; Platform

Fast cameras are an important diagnostic instrument for studying plasma physics in fusion devices. Current camera based systems are used to study turbulence, plasma composition, density, exhaust temperature, and shaping all crucial aspects for the control of a fusion reactor. Currently fast camera platforms must either be built from scratch or purchased from a supplier. Building a camera platform from scratch requires a lot of development time but results in specialised system specific for the use case. Buying a camera from a supplier can result in implementing a system quickly but can limit functionality and future upgrade paths due to proprietary software platforms.Many fast camera systems use a communication protocol called GigE Vision to connect to a controlling PC. This protocol can be licensed for free for research purposes but there currently does not exist an open source implementation. Therefore GigE vision systems are generally only available with accompanying proprietary control and acquisition software. An open-source and user friendly platform using GigE vision would help in quickly creating highly customised instrumentation that can be used for a wide range of available cameras. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) are integrated circuits capable of being programmed at the bare logic level to specialise them to any task. Because of their generic nature, FPGA based systems are ideal for building custom acquisition and real-time processing systems without going through the electrical engineering aspects of developing an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Firmware written for an FPGA can be applied and integrated into other FPGA platforms and made available as open-source software. The aim of this project is to develop a flexible fast camera diagnostic platform using the GigE vision protocol. Implementing the GigE vision protocol on FPGA will allow the development of low latency fast camera instrumentation for real-time processing applications. The diagnostic platform could be applied to many areas of fusion research, such as filament tracking, plasma shaping, real-time protection, or plasma edge physics studies. While it is encouraged that the designed proof-of-principle should be suitable to accomodate requirements from different diagnostics, the suggested implementation for this project is a new version of the Hi-Res Optical Measurement of Edge Radius (HOMER) diagnostic. The HOMER diagnostic has potential for increased functionality, compared to its current state, the implementation of which will demonstrate the versatility of the platform. Suggested novel ideas to explore are real-time H-mode event triggering, real-time edge-electron or neutral gas density measurements for plasma edge profile studies, or a 2D camera implementation for real-time plasma boundary imaging and real-time protection. The project will develop skills in a range of computational and experimental areas, as well as provide expertise in FPGA development, plasma control, and a broad knowledge in plasma physics.

快速相机是研究聚变装置中等离子体物理的重要诊断仪器。当前基于摄像头的系统用于研究湍流、等离子体成分、密度、排气温度以及塑造聚变反应堆控制的所有关键方面。目前快速相机平台必须从头开始构建或从供应商处购买。从头开始构建相机平台需要大量的开发时间，但会产生针对特定用例的专用系统。从供应商处购买相机可以快速实现系统，但由于专有软件平台的原因，可能会限制功能和未来的升级路径。许多快速相机系统使用称为 GigE Vision 的通信协议来连接到控制 PC。该协议可以免费许可用于研究目的，但目前不存在开源实现。因此，GigE 视觉系统通常只能与随附的专有控制和采集软件一起使用。使用 GigE 视觉的开源且用户友好的平台将有助于快速创建可用于各种可用相机的高度定制的仪器。现场可编程门阵列 (FPGA) 是能够在裸逻辑级进行编程以专门用于任何任务的集成电路。由于其通用性，基于 FPGA 的系统非常适合构建定制采集和实时处理系统，而无需经历开发专用集成电路 (ASIC) 的电气工程方面的工作。为 FPGA 编写的固件可以应用并集成到其他 FPGA 平台中，并作为开源软件提供。该项目的目的是使用 GigE 视觉协议开发灵活的快速相机诊断平台。在 FPGA 上实施 GigE 视觉协议将允许开发用于实时处理应用的低延迟快速相机仪器。该诊断平台可应用于聚变研究的许多领域，例如灯丝跟踪、等离子体成形、实时保护或等离子体边缘物理研究。虽然鼓励设计的原理验证应适合满足不同诊断的要求，但该项目的建议实施是边缘半径高分辨率光学测量 (HOMER) 诊断的新版本。与当前状态相比，HOMER 诊断具有增加功能的潜力，其实施将展示该平台的多功能性。建议探索的新想法包括实时 H 模式事件触发、用于等离子体边缘轮廓研究的实时边缘电子或中性气体密度测量，或用于实时等离子体边界成像和实时保护的 2D 相机实现。该项目将培养一系列计算和实验领域的技能，并提供 FPGA 开发、等离子体控制方面的专业知识以及等离子体物理学方面的广泛知识。