Model Driven Ramp Control at RHIC

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At the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), magnets are ramped from injection energy to storage energy in several min utes where it is to remain for several hours. The path up the ramp is marked by 'StepStones' where the the optics of the ma chine, which can change dramatically when we perform a beta*-squeeze, is given in units like Quadrupole focusing strengt h or Corrector-Dipole angle. The machine is tuned at these Stepstones, and at Injection or Storage, by specifying physic s properties like Tunes and Chromaticities. An on-line model server handles conversion to magnet strengths, and predicts the optics along the whole ramp. We will describe the underlying principles, the client-server environment, including on-line model servers, Ramp Manager and Editor, and present operational experience with the system.