Accelerator Control System at KEKB and the Linac

TL;DR

The paper describes the development and enhancements of the control system at KEKB and its injector linac, highlighting innovations like virtual accelerators and dual-tier controls that improve performance and flexibility.

Contribution

It introduces new control system concepts such as channel access everywhere, dual-tier controls, and virtual accelerators, advancing accelerator operation capabilities.

Findings

Achieved high performance and reliability in KEKB operations.

Enabled a single linac to serve three different accelerators.

Demonstrated control system innovations critical for future accelerators.

Abstract

KEKB completed all of the technical milestones, and had offered important insights into the flavor structure of elementary particles, especially the CP violation. The accelerator control system at KEKB and injector linac was initiated by a combination of scripting languages at the operation layer and EPICS at the equipment layer. During the project many features were implemented to achieve extreme performance out of the machine. Especially the online linkage to the accelerator simulation played an essential role. In order to further improve the reliability and flexibility two major concepts were additionally introduced later in the project, namely the channel access everywhere and the dual-tier controls. Based on the improved control system a concept of virtual accelerators were realized that enables the single injector linac serve as three separate injectors to KEKB HER, LER and Photon Factory, respectively. Those control technologies are indispensable for the future particle accelerators.