LabVIEW-based modular control system for the Novel Electron Window Test Stand

Electron Beam Flue Gas Treatment (EBFGT) offers a solution to reduce SOx and NOx emissions coming from the maritime industry. The accelerator setup must be compact and energy-efficient enough to fit onboard a ship. To study EBFGT efficiency, a membrane window has to be placed between the electron gun and the beam-gas interaction area. A Novel Electron Window Test Stand (NEWTS) has been designed to test and validate these ultra-thin membranes by studying the electron beam attenuation and deflection. A dedicated control system for NEWTS has been designed and deployed, which ensures reliable real-time operation in both continuous and pulsed (from milliseconds to nanoseconds) modes. In this paper, we will explain the implementation and architecture of the control system and its suitability to operate in a harsh environment. By combining the capabilities of LabVIEW, RADE, Gitlab CI, Python, NI cRIO and FPGA, we will show how the control system for NEWTS was able to be put in place within a few months to control a variety of "off-the-shelf equipment" and integrate them within the CERN infrastructure. We will also demonstrate the control system's versatility, such that it can be reused to control other electron gun test benches at CERN. Keywords: reconfigurability, control system, rapid deployment, versatility, modularity.