25–29 May 2026
La Biodola - Isola d'Elba (Italy)
Europe/Rome timezone
NB: The submission deadline for the Student Paper Awards is Monday, 11 May.

12 Modular Hardware, Firmware, and Control-System Integration: Lessons from Commissioning the Fast Beam Interlock System at ESS

25 May 2026, 11:30
2m
Maria Luisa Room (Hotel Hermitage)

Maria Luisa Room

Hotel Hermitage

Mini Oral Emerging Technologies, New Standards, Feedback on Experience Mini Orals

Speaker

Dr Stefano Pavinato (European Spallation Source)

Description

The Fast Beam Interlock System (FBIS) at the European Spallation Source (ESS) is a distributed, safety-critical system that collects status information from multiple accelerator subsystems and, when unsafe conditions arise, stops both the machine and the proton beam within microseconds. During the ESS commissioning process, from integration testing to full beam operation, FBIS was developed using a modular approach for hardware, firmware, and control system interfaces. Standardized mTCA crates and cPCI platforms enabled the sharing and reuse of hardware components across different interlocking and diagnostic systems, simplifying development and maintenance. Each parameterized firmware release is validated with rigorous laboratory testing that mirrors simulation methodologies, ensuring reliable system performance before deployment and efficient management of diagnostic data and events during operations. System timing ensures precise alignment of diagnostic data across FBIS crates. This paper summarizes the practical and architectural lessons learned from the implementation of FBIS, highlighting how the modular design of hardware and firmware enabled flexible adaptation, reliable operation, and a modular control system level during machine commissioning.

Minioral No
IEEE Member No
Are you a student? No

Author

Dr Stefano Pavinato (European Spallation Source)

Co-authors

Dr Annika Nordt (European Spallation Source) Emmanuel D'Costa (European Spallation Source) Martin Carroll (European Spallation Source) Rafael Silveira (European Spallation Source) Dr Stephane Gabourin (European Spallation Source)

Presentation materials