Digital control system for the thermionic cathode in an electron gun

The authors discuss a fast digital control system which is capable of regulating the heat source by keeping the cathode´s current at a specified value for a microwave electron gun (MEG). The digital system will control the stability of the total system. The basic premise of the digital control system involves converting the analog inputs to digital signals, processing the signal to find the appropriate feedback signal, and converting it to an analog output signal. The control action is proportional control. In the proportional control system the correction signal used varies in direct proportion to the deviation between the actual and desired values of a process variable. System simulations of the MEG digital controller showed promising results which can improve MEG stability