A systematic approach to optimize excitations for perturbative transport experiments

In this paper, techniques for optimal input design are used to optimize the waveforms of perturbative experiments in modern fusion devices. The main focus of this paper is to find the modulation frequency for which the accuracy of the estimated diffusion coefficient is maximal. Mathematically, this problem can be formulated as an optimization problem in which the Fisher information matrix is maximized. First, this optimization problem is solved for a simplified diffusion model, while assuming a slab geometry and a semi-infinite domain. Later, the optimization is repeated under more general conditions such as a cylindrical geometry, finite domain, and simultaneous estimation of multiple transport coefficients. Based on the results of these optimizations, guidelines are offered to select the modulation frequency and to determine the optimality of the corresponding experiment. © 2018 EURATOM