Application ofField Programmable Gate Arrays inInstrumentation and Control Systems of NuclearPower Plants

Most nuclear power plant instrumentation and control (I&C) systems were based onanalogue technology when they were built in the ۱۹۶۰s and ۱۹۷۰s. In the ۱۹۸۰s and۱۹۹۰s, computer based, programmable I&C systems were developed for introductioninto new plants and to replace analogue technologies in existing plants. The newsystems had many advantages compared to older analogue based solutions. However,the extensive functionality and resulting complexity of software made the verificationand validation (V&V) of computer based I&C systems time consuming and expensive.In addition, computer based applications use microprocessors, which now have shortproduct life cycles, and applications may become obsolete in a relatively short time dueto lack of spare parts and support.In order to address the above problems, the industry is beginning to move towards fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) based applications, as evidenced byimplementations such as those described in this paper.

کلیدواژه ها:

FPGA ، V&V ، hardware description language ، PLD ، configurable logic blocks ، look-uptable ،