Adaption of a Synchrotron Control System for Heavy Ion Tumor Therapy

U. Krause
GSI, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany


After years of biomedical research in parallel to physics experiments with heavy ions, a facility for treatment of human carcinoms at GSI is under construction. This project will make part-time use of the existing synchrotron. About 70 patients per year will be treated, while the physics program is due to continue with as little constraints as possible. In contrast to other facilities for heavy ion tumor therapy the target volume will be irradiated by active means: Energy variation and scanning techniques.

To support this operation the GSI control system has to handle hundreds of energy and intensity settings, all to be requested under the control of the irradiation staff on a pulse to pulse basis. This high flexibility cannot be accomplished by simple scaling of the established structures. Furtheron rigid access control and data protection are indispensable to achieve the high reliabilty needed for the therapy sessions. The paper describes the modifications and extensions of the existing control system to meet the new demands, allowing to reuse most of the existing hard- and software.