STIRLING, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PrismTech™, a global leader in software platforms for distributed systems, today announced that its OpenSplice™ DDS product suite had been selected by Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) to support its Remote Handling system. OpenSplice DDS provides the scalability, Quality-of-Service and integration needed to support the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system that repairs and configures reactor components and instrumentation within a fusion research reactor.
CCFE, the United Kingdom’s national laboratory for fusion research, and one of the leading fusion research labs in the world, developed its Remote Handling system to perform maintenance-related activities within its thermo-nuclear fusion research reactor—an environment too hostile for engineers and technicians to perform these actions.
“The Remote Handling system is a crucial component in our research efforts to develop fusion as a new source of clean energy, but it had outgrown the capabilities of our internal software control system,” said Robert Skilton, Control Systems and Software Engineer, CCFE. “It’s a highly sophisticated system that requires a high performance, real-time data-sharing platform. Not only does PrismTech’s OpenSplice DDS meet these needs, but it also provides the necessary integration, scalability and flexibility to support this complex, distributed system.”
CCFE’s Remote Handling is a fully remote system that includes robotic devices, advanced computers, virtual reality and closed circuit television systems, a variety of special tools, supervised from a multi-operator control room. OpenSplice DDS is being specifically used by CCFE as part of its MASCOT 6 telemanipulator project.
“OpenSplice DDS is an optimal solution for the type of challenges we find in SCADA applications and in the energy sector in general,” said Andrew Foster, Product Marketing Manager, PrismTech. “We work with a number of organizations in this sector and we understand the importance of delivering a real-time, standards-based data-sharing solution. OpenSplice DDS provides the right mix of flexibility, scalability, security and Quality-of-Service in these distributed systems.”
OpenSplice DDS is the leading (commercial and Open Source) implementation of the Object Management Group™'s (OMG™) Data Distribution Service (DDS) for Real-Time Systems standard. OpenSplice DDS has been designed to optimally address the real-time information distribution and management challenges posed by high performance real-time systems. It sets new levels of performance, robustness, scalability, fault-tolerance, portability and interoperability for standard’s based middleware.
Further information about PrismTech’s OpenSplice DDS is available from the website at: http://www.prismtech.com/opensplice.
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About Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, is home to the UK’s fusion research programme, headed by the MAST (Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak) experiment. It also hosts the world’s largest fusion facility, JET (Joint European Torus), which CCFE operates for its European partners under a contract with the European Commission. CCFE is owned and operated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
Fusion research aims to copy the process which powers the Sun for a new large-scale source of clean energy here on Earth. When light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released. To do this, gaseous fuel is heated to extreme temperatures, hotter than the centre of the Sun, forming a plasma in which fusion reactions take place. A commercial power station will use the energy from neutrons produced by fusion reactions to generate electricity.
Further information is available at www.ccfe.ac.uk and www.efda.org.
About PrismTech
PrismTech’s customers deliver systems for the Internet of Things, the Industrial Internet and advanced wireless communications. PrismTech supplies the software platforms, tools and professional services they need to build solutions with the required: platform coverage, performance, scalability, efficiency, flexibility and robustness. PrismTech’s customers service many market sectors, including: industry, energy, healthcare, transportation, finance, aerospace and defense. For additional information about PrismTech, visit the web site at http://www.prismtech.com.
OpenSplice is a trademark of PrismTech. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
