ALS Mini IOC: An FPGA embedded processor based control system module for booster magnet ramping at the ALS

The Advanced Light Source (ALS) booster magnet upgrade for top-off operation requires new instrumentation to meet increased magnet ramping requirements. To address these requirements, the ALS Instrumentation group and control systems group collaborated to design a new control system module called the Mini IOC. The Mini IOC hardware is based on a commercial evaluation board containing an FPGA with embedded processor and built-in interfaces for 64 MB of DDR SDRAM and Ethernet. A custom module is used for analog controls and monitors. The PowerPCreg embedded processor runs an EPICS database built on the VxWorks operating system allowing remote access via Ethernet. This paper includes an overview of the Mini IOC design and operational results.