Preparation of W7-X CoDaC for OP2

The superconducting stellarator Wendelstein 7-X has successfully concluded its third operation phase in October 2018. The machine will see substantial changes during the next two years when an actively cooled divertor will be installed, as well as many new diagnostic systems. The W7-X Control, Data Acquisition and Communication (CoDaC) group is responsible for the integration of all new diagnostics into the W7-X control ecosystem (around ten systems) as well as carrying out significant upgrades to the I&C and data acquisition of another 15 systems. This article will present an overview of the integration challenges for Operation Phase 2 (OP2) both from a technical perspective as well as highlight the strategy employed by the W7-X CoDaC group to meet those challenges within the time and resource budget. The cornerstone for this strategy is standardization as far as possible to minimize individual integration effort. Siemens PLCs already handle general slow control throughout the project. However, up until now, the integration work is still predominantly done fully in-house. In order to handle the large scope of work within the time budget, CoDaC will have to be in a position to outsource a significant part of the work. In addition, efforts are underway to make validation and commissioning of the central systems as efficient as possible using modeling and simulation environments as well as industry-standard requirements’ management.