The Accelerator Controls Operations Research Network (ACORN) project will modernize the accelerator control system and replace end-of-life power supplies to enable future operations of the Fermilab Accelerator Complex with megawatt particle beams.
ACORN will modernize the accelerator control system by replacing obsolete hardware and software and will integrate the new control system with PIP-II and LBNF. The existing accelerator complex operates with a single control system that encompasses hardware and software for controlling 10 miles of accelerator components and beam transfer lines. The control system initiates particle beam production; controls beam energy and intensity; transports particle beams to research facilities; measures beam parameters; and monitors beam transport through the accelerator complex to ensure safe, reliable and effective operations. There are approximately 200,000 devices with 350,000 attributes and several million lines of software code in the existing system.
Accelerator power supplies connect the laboratory’s high-voltage AC power distribution system to the large power supplies needed to operate accelerator magnets and other high-power devices. Many of the power supplies that drive the accelerator complex have exceeded their recommended life expectancy and are not capable of the speed and precision needed for future accelerator operations.
