17–22 May 2026
C.I.D
Europe/Zurich timezone

Extended Maintenance and Gradual Replacement of MIL-1553-based Field Network at GSI

WEP6101
20 May 2026, 16:00
2h
C.I.D

C.I.D

Deauville, France
Poster Presentation MC6.T04: Accelerator/Storage Ring Control Systems Poster session

Speaker

Mr Volker Kleipa (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research)

Description

The control system of the GSI accelerator complex dates back to the early 1990s.
It is based on a derivative of the MIL-1553 field bus, providing around 1 Mbit/s throughput and deterministic real-time operation.
Although a modern control architecture with smart front-ends (System Control Units, SCUs), Ethernet, and White Rabbit is now widely deployed at GSI, several hundred devices still depend on the legacy network and protocols.

The ageing electronics and limited bandwidth provide strong motivation to migrate to the new control system.
However, an upgrade is limited by various constraints: strict real-time operation, existing software architecture, physical space and available power sources. Therefore, operation of the legacy interfaces must be ensured for at least another decade while a unified migration strategy is hard to find.

In this contribution, we present a generic approach for extending the lifetime of the existing MIL-1553-based systems and gradual replacement of their components. This includes upgrades of bus controllers, device controllers, the bus itself as well as a new Modbus/TCP-based solution for simple devices.

In which format do you inted to submit your paper? LaTeX
Preprint marking on your proceeding paper I do not wish my paper to be marked as preprint.

Authors

Mr Kai Lüghausen (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research) Merlin Weiland (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research) Michał Dziewiecki (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research) Ralph Baer (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research) Mr Stefan Rauch (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research) Mr Volker Kleipa (GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.