Integrated Commissioning of the Control System
Commissioning brings the control system online in careful stages, proving each layer before the next depends on it.
Why commissioning is staged
A control system cannot be switched on all at once and trusted. It is commissioned in stages, each proving a capability before the next relies on it. This ordered buildup finds problems while they are cheap to fix and while the plasma, if any, is in a benign state. Rushing commissioning trades a saved week for a damaged machine.
The typical order
- Bench and hardware-in-the-loop tests against the flight simulator
- Actuator and diagnostic commissioning without plasma
- First plasma with minimal control, just breakdown and basic position
- Progressive enabling of shape, current, and density loops
- Advanced loops: profiles, instabilities, off-normal handling
Proving before trusting
Each loop is verified in open loop, watching what it would command, before it is closed and allowed to act. Gains start conservative and are raised as behavior is confirmed. This mirrors the feedforward-first philosophy: rely on what is known, add authority only as confidence grows.
The role of the simulator
Because so much can be tested against a flight simulator before touching hardware, integrated commissioning starts long before first plasma. Timing bugs, network faults, and logic errors are shaken out in hardware-in-the-loop testing, so the on-machine commissioning focuses on the differences between model and reality rather than on basic correctness.
In the Kronos program
For the Hyperion breeder and the burner generators, integrated commissioning begins in simulation well ahead of construction in the second quarter of 2027, using the flight simulator and digital twin. On-machine commissioning then proceeds in the staged order, enabling vertical stabilization and basic loops first and building toward the advanced profile and off-normal capabilities that support the design operating point.