Trajectory control for a new total skin electron treatment machine

Abstract The paper focuses attention on the development of a control system for a new radiotherapy treatment machine that makes use of a betatron to deliver electron beams over the whole surface of a patient. The betatron moves above a patient at a fixed distance from the patient support system. This paper presents a method to predict the betatron trajectory, in terms of speed and position, according to variation in the patient's geometry and is concerned with a simulation study of a PID control strategy implemented to control the speed of the betatron.