The PLC Control System for the RF Upgrade of the Super Proton Synchrotron

During the CERN Long Shutdown 2 (LS2), the 200 MHz main acceleration system of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is being upgraded. Two cavities will be added to reach a total of six. Each new cavity will be powered by Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA) grouped into 16 "towers" of 80 modules each, in total 2560 modules. This paper describes the newly developed control system which uses a master PLC for control and interlock of each cavity and the slave PLC controllers for each of the solid state amplifier towers. The system topology and design choices are discussed. Control and interlocking of all subsystems necessary for the operation of an RF cavity are detailed, and the interaction between the master and slave PLC controllers is outlined. We discuss some preliminary results and performance of the test installation.