An integrated approach to the control of magnetically confined plasmas

In this paper, a short review of the work done in the framework of a nation-wide research programme on ‘Models and Methods for Plasma Control in Magnetically Confined Fusion Experiments’ is presented. The broad aim of the overall programme is to develop and propose a new effective and reliable approach to the on-line plasma control for future fusion experiments, starting from the today's theoretical background, validated by experimental evidence from a number of tests performed on existing experiments. The proposed formulation to approach the control problem is a linearized model in terms of suitable state variables and input/output relationships. The basic project has been subdivided into four major areas of investigation: the linearized response plasma model, the three-dimensional electromagnetic model, the identification techniques and finally the plasma control requirements. The most remarkable results, achieved so far in each area above, are presented in the paper.