25th IEEE Real Time Conference - La Biodola, Elba, Italy

A Low-Latency Distributed Machine-Protection System for the PIP-II Linear Accelerator

27 May 2026, 11:05

1h

Elena Room (Hotel Hermitage)

Poster presentation Real Time Diagnostics, Digital Twin, Control, Monitoring, Safety and Security Real Time Diagnostics, Digital Twin, Control, Monitoring, Safety and Security - PS

Speaker

Dr Jonathan Daniel Eisch (Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (US))

Description

PIP-II at Fermilab features a high-intensity 800 MeV superconducting linear accelerator (linac) requiring a robust Machine Protection System (MPS) to prevent beam-induced damage to delicate cryomodules and vacuum components. A critical element of this system is the fast Analog Machine Protection System, a high-bandwidth platform designed for real-time beam loss monitoring. The system utilizes a modular, FPGA-based architecture to digitize signals from beam-sensing devices, such as AC Current Transformers (ACCTs), non-invasive Ring Pickups (RPUs) and beam scrapers.

To ensure galvanic isolation and noise immunity, digitized data is transmitted via fiber-optic links to central processing units that perform differential current analysis across the linac. The system is engineered for ultra-low latency, achieving a total response time of less than 10 microseconds from fault detection to beam inhibition. This paper presents the hardware selection and signal conditioning strategies for the MPS remote digitization nodes for the PIP-II linear accelerator.