Real-Time Compute Actuators

The bridge from digital command to physical effect is the actuator driver: deterministic RT-compute stages that turn setpoints into coil currents, beam power, and grid voltages.

What an RT-compute actuator is

Between the control law and the physics sits the actuator driver — the real-time compute stage that receives a validated setpoint and drives the physical device to match it. Kronos's drivers are deterministic: they close a fast inner loop on the device (current, voltage, flow) so that the higher control loop can treat the actuator as a predictable, bounded-latency element.

Inner-loop closure

Each actuator carries its own fast regulator. A PF-coil supply regulates output current to the commanded value; a beam modulator regulates delivered power; a DEC grid driver regulates collector voltage; a servo valve regulates flow. These inner loops run in fabric at the driver, so the outer plasma/plug loop sees a clean first-order response instead of raw device dynamics.

Determinism at the device

• Setpoint staged and released on a synchronized gate.
• Inner regulator closes with bounded response time.
• Local limits clamp commands to the device's safe envelope.
• Driver status returns to L1 for supervision and arbitration.

Local envelope clamping is a second safety layer: even a valid-looking setpoint is bounded at the driver to what the device can survive, so no single upstream fault can overdrive a coil, beam, or grid. This complements the interlock and arbitration layers above.

The actuator set

Across both machines the actuator families are: shaping and position coils, heating (neutral-beam and RF) modulators, fueling valves and pellet injectors, and — on the burner — the DEC collector-grid drivers. Each is documented in this category with its own loop and timing. Together they are the physical vocabulary the intelligent stack speaks through, always via L1's deterministic drivers. See command arbitration for how competing requests are resolved.