• M. Wilinski
  BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York

The Faraday Cup Award is given for an outstanding contribution to the development of an innovative particle beam diagnostic instrument of proven workability. It is presented at the Beam Instrumentation Workshop (BIW), a biennial forum for in-depth discussions of techniques for measuring particle beams produced in accelerators. This session will present the latest Faraday Cup winner, and the Proceedings article associated with it will summarize the history of the award. After the award is presented, this year's honoree (a secret until the Workshop) will give a talk on the design and performance of the winning instrument. For more information on the Award, see http://www.faraday-cup.com.

• M. Wilinski, W.C. Dawson, C. Degen, A. Marusic, K. Mernick, M.G. Minty, T. Russo
  BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York

Throughout RHIC Run-9 (polarized protons) and Run-10 (gold), numerous modifications to the Baseband Tune (BBQ) system were made. Hardware and software improvements resulted in improved resolution and control, allowing the system to overcome challenges from competing 60 Hz mains harmonics, other spectral content, and other beam issues. Test points from the Analog Front End (AFE) were added and connected to diagnostics that allow us to view signals, such as frequency spectra on a Sr785 dynamic signal analyzer, in real time. Also, additional data can now be logged using a National Instruments DAQ. Development time using tune feedback to obtain full-energy beams at RHIC has been significantly reduced from many ramps over a few weeks, to just a few ramps over several hours. For many years BBQ was an expert-only system, but the many improvements allowed BBQ to finally be handed over to the Operations Staff for routine control.