TCLK Must Stay! CAMAC Must Go! How Does Fermilab Move Forward

TL;DR

Fermilab is transitioning from a 40-year-old CAMAC-based timing system to a modern, flexible, single-chassis system to support future upgrades and maintain compatibility with existing infrastructure.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new timing system design that replaces CAMAC hardware with a modern solution, enhancing flexibility and future-proofing Fermilab's accelerator operations.

Findings

Successful replacement of CAMAC hardware with a modern system

Enhanced flexibility for future accelerator upgrades

Maintained backwards compatibility during transition

Abstract

The current Timing System at Fermilab has been around for 40 years and currently relies on 7 CAMAC crates and over 100 CAMAC cards to produce the Tevatron Clock (TCLK). Thanks to the ingenuity of those before us, this has allowed Fermilab the flexibility to change the timing and Events for its accelerator as beamlines and projects have changed over the years. With the advent of the Proton Improvement Plan-II (PIP-II), the Timing System at Fermilab is being reimagined into a single chassis with even greater flexibility and functionality for decades to come while tackling the ever-challenging task of maintaining backwards compatibility.