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Introduction to my work
Within the CTM team I took responsibility for the development, integration, and testing of software to automatically control cavity eccentricity (referring to the abstract). A literature survey found no previously published work in this area and discussions with experts from DESY and Fermilab found that they relied exclusively on manual tuning because they had no suitable algorithms that could be automated.
Following discussions within the team, I simulated a simple mechanical model of the cavity together with an algorithm to correct the eccentricity in Matlab. The algorithm integrated data from a network analyzer, position encoders and a laser eccentricity monitor to determine the pressure to be applied to each of the three tuning jaws. The response predicted by my Matlab code was compared to the mechanical response of a several cavities and found to provide excellent results.
Once the algorithm had been validated, I developed, integrated and tested a production implementation in LabVIEW that will be shipped to Germany and Japan as a part of the CTM control software.
In the course of this work, I had to master the practical application of several simulation, analysis and software development techniques, some of which I had never been exposed to before or had previously only seen in the classroom. The development and validation of the eccentricity control software involved extensive use of Matlab to statistically compare cavity data to simulation results. The implementation of the production version required the use advanced LabVIEW programming techniques to ensure that the eccentricity module would interact properly with the complex plug-in architecture of the CTM control software.
My thesis work represents the first implementation of automated control of the eccentricity during the tuning of SCRF cavities and the software modules I developed will be used in the future production of cavities for accelerators in the USA, Germany and Japan.
