Architecture and commissioning of the TCV distributed feedback control system

A new modular, digital, distributed feedback control system has been developed and installed to control the TCV plasma. With many more inputs and outputs, it provides the possibility to build control algorithms using far more information on the plasma state than previously possible as well as the ability to control many more actuators, including the multi-megawatt, multi-launcher electron cyclotron heating and current drive system. This paper provides an overview of the new control system, its integration into the TCV systems and its successful application to control the TCV plasma discharge.