Song, Q.Q. Cai, H.R. Guo, Q.K. He, A.L. Jiang, T.Y. Wang, Y. Yin, Z.G. Zhang, T.J. Zhao, B.H. JACoW Publishing Geneva, Switzerland 2673-5482 978-3-95450-212-7 10.18429/JACoW-CYCLOTRONS2022-MOPO001 English 47-50 controls real-time proton software hardware Contribution to a conference proceedings 2023 2023-10 https://doi.org/10.18429/JACoW-CYCLOTRONS2022-MOPO001 https://jacow.org/cyclotrons2022/papers/mopo001.pdf The energy selection system (ESS) plays an important role in a proton therapy system. Usually, it consists of an energy degrader, a set of achromatic bending magnets, an envelope collimator, and a momentum-selecting slit. In CIAE, a dedicated beam transportation line, including these essential elements, for the CYCIAE-230 superconducting cyclotron has been designed and manufactured for study purposes. To reduce the layer switching time, e.g. typically within 50 milliseconds, this ESS system takes advantage of VME-based real-time controller design. On one side, this controller uses S-curve to direct drive the step motors of various actuators, this is done by an off-the-shelf embedded controller. On the other hand, it uses Data Distribution Service (DDS) communication protocol to tap into the nozzle control system network directly. In such a manner, the energy requirement can be efficiently handled and the controller is also responsible for the current regulation of the 46 magnets. The design of this high-efficiency controller will be reported in this paper, both from hardware and software aspects. Preliminary test results will also be evaluated and analyzed to direct further improvement of the system.