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The ITER Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) project (one of the three sub-projects of the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC)) is progressing under the agreement between the Government of Japan and the European Atomic Energy Community for the joint implementation of the Broader Approach (BA) activities in the field of fusion energy research. The objectives of the REC activity are to identify the functions and solve the technical issues for the construction of the REC for ITER at Rokkasho, and to develop the remote experiment system and verify the functions required for remote experimentation by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities to facilitate the future exploitation of ITER and JT-60SA. The functions of REC will be tested, and the total system will be demonstrated using JT-60SA and existing facilities in the EU, such as JET and WEST. The hardware of the REC has been prepared in Rokkasho Japan, which has the remote experiment room with a large video wall to show the plasma and operation status, IT equipment and a storage system by the reuse of the Helios supercomputer tape library. A broadband network infrastructure of 10Gbps has been installed connected to SINET5. Using this network system, fast data transfer from ITER to REC was examined in 2016, and the transfer of the data volumes expected for the initial ITER experiments has been demonstrated. A secure remote experimentation system has been developed, using JT-60SA, that has functions for preparing and setting of shot parameters, viewing the status of control data, streaming of the plasma status, data-exchange function of shot events, and monitoring of the facility operation. Remote data analysis techniques, data visualisation software, a documentation management and experiment planning system and numerical simulation codes for the preparation and performance estimation of discharges have also been developed.

Remote experiment with WEST tokamak in CEA Cadarache from ITER Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) in Rokkasho had been successfully carried out under the agreement between the Government of Japan and the European Atomic Energy Community for the joint implementation of the Broader Approach (BA) activities in the field of fusion energy research. The WEST and the REC sites were connected with the international broadband network for science and education of SINET, GEANT and RENATER. Due to a long distance over 10,000 km of two sites, the latency was about 200 ms (round trip time) in total via the direct line between EU and Japan of SINET5. Based on the communication between local and remote participants, plasma discharges were successfully executed repeatedly according to the pulse schedule produced by remote Session Leader after the approval by Engineer in Charge on WEST site. Intershot analyses were successfully executed during the pulse interval on an analysis server prepared in Partners network in the WEST for external collaborator. Full function required for the remote experiments were successfully demonstrated in the large size tokamak facility, WEST. For remote participation of ITER, however, it is expected that the amount of experimental data and the number of remote participations will become very large. Distributed database system based on data replication using high-speed data transferring method and distributed computing resources in local and remote sites are proposed as a possible solution in ITER.

The ITER Remote Experimentation Centre (REC) project (one of the three sub-projects of the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC)) is progressing under the agreement between the Government of Japan and the European Atomic Energy Community for the joint implementation of the Broader Approach (BA) activities in the field of fusion energy research. The objectives of the REC activity are to identify the functions and solve the technical issues for the construction of the REC for ITER at Rokkasho, and to develop the remote experiment system and verify the functions required for remote experimentation by using the Satellite Tokamak (JT-60SA) facilities to facilitate the future exploitation of ITER and JT-60SA. The functions of REC will be tested, and the total system will be demonstrated using JT-60SA and existing facilities in the EU, such as JET and WEST. The hardware of the REC has been prepared in Rokkasho Japan, which has the remote experiment room with a large video wall to show the plasma and operation status, IT equipment and a storage system by the reuse of the Helios supercomputer tape library. A broadband network infrastructure of 10Gbps has been installed connected to SINET5. Using this network system, fast data transfer from ITER to REC was examined in 2016, and the transfer of the data volumes expected for the initial ITER experiments has been demonstrated. A secure remote experimentation system has been developed, using JT-60SA, that has functions for preparing and setting of shot parameters, viewing the status of control data, streaming of the plasma status, data-exchange function of shot events, and monitoring of the facility operation. Remote data analysis techniques, data visualisation software, a documentation management and experiment planning system and numerical simulation codes for the preparation and performance estimation of discharges have also been developed.