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The High Luminosity upgrade for the Large Hadron Collider LHC (HL-LHC) requires new Nb3Sn superconducting magnets and it triggers a development of novel hardware for the quench detection system (QDS) based on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) digital platform and a number of individually isolated analogue front-ends. Galvanic insulation has been implemented downstream the analogue to digital convertors to eliminate a usage of analogue isolation amplifiers. This concept was already successfully implemented in the current LHC QDS system, however the mitigation of new phenomena inside Nb3Sn materials required development of a new generation of QDS. The newly developed universal QDS offers flexibility of firmware defined architecture. Adopted prototype driven strategy includes thorough characterization of the analogue front-ends in the laboratory and prototype unit measurements performed on HL-LHC magnet prototypes at CERN's superconducting magnet test facility SM18. The tests also reveal the characteristics of the magnets as well as the measurement electronics at an early stage. The test results are used to optimize the analogue input stages as well as the digital signal processing within the FPGA. The preliminary test results are presented and focus is given to the measurement and studies of the so-called “flux jumps” to mitigate the effects of these voltage perturbations in the QDS.

In the framework of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, the installation of a new generation of quadrupole magnets is foreseen on each side of ATLAS and CMS experiments. The new magnets are based on Nb3Sn technology and shall be able to reach an ultimate current of 17.9 kA with a peak field of 12.3 T in the coil. In 2016 and 2017, the first two short models, called MQXFS3 and MQXFS5, have been tested at 4.2 and 1.9 K in the two new test benches at the European Organization for Nuclear Research. This paper presents the result of the quench performance of the two models; the first magnet reached nominal but failed to reach ultimate, showing detraining in one coil. MQXFS5 reached ultimate performance without any detraining phenomena, validating the PIT conductor used for the first time in this magnet program.

This work presents a radiation assessment of a successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for purposes of a new generation of quench detection systems (QDS) that will be used in the radiation environment of High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HLLHC). The assessment has been performed by conducting an irradiation testing campaign using a proton beam with radiation doses up to 1 kGy. The test results render the selected ADC highly robust for use in future applications of quench protection in the LHC superconducting magnet circuits.

This paper describes the TOTEM Trigger System Firmware that is operational at LHC since 2009. The TOTEM experiment is devoted to the forward hadronic physics at collision energy from 2.7 to 14TeV. It is composed of three different subdetectors that are placed at 9, 13.5, and 220m from the Interaction Point 5. A time-critical-logic firmware is implemented inside FPGA circuits to review collisions and to select the relevant ones to be stored by the Data Acquisition (DAQ). The Trigger system has been modified in the 2012-2013 LHC runs allowing the experiment to take data in cooperation with CMS.