The upgraded data acquisition system for beam loss monitoring at the Fermilab Tevatron and Main Injector

A VME-based data acquisition system for beam-loss monitors has been developed and is in use in the Tevatronand Main Injectoraccelerators at the Fermilabcomplex. The need for enhanced beam-loss protection when the Tevatronis operating in collider-mode was the main driving force for the new design. Prior to the implementation of the present system, the beam-loss monitor system was disabled during collideroperation and protection of the Tevatronmagnets relied on the quench protection system. The new Beam-Loss Monitor system allows appropriate abort logic and thresholds to be set over the full set of collideroperating conditions. The systemalso recordsa history of beam-loss data prior to a beam-abort event for post-abort analysis. Installation of the Main Injectorsystem occurred in the fall of 2006 and the Tevatronsystem in the summer of 2007. Both systems were fully operation by the summer of 2008. In this paper we report on the overall system design, provide a description of its normal operation, and show a number of examples of its use in both the Main Injectorand Tevatron.