Overview of Recent Steady-State Scenario Experiments on DIII-D

On DIII-D, on- and off-axis neutral beams and electron cyclotron heating have expanded access to a wide range of $q$-profiles. Plasmas with $q_{min}=1-3$ have been evaluated for high $\beta$ steady-state operation. With $q_{min}>2$ and no internal transport barrier, ideal-wall kink mode $\beta_N$ limits $>$4 are calculated but the global energy confinement is low compared to lower $q_{min}$ plasmas. The thermal and fast ion transport dependence on $q_{min}$ will be discussed, as well as the dependence of stability and confinement on $\rho_{qmin}$ and $q_0-q_{min}$, and the characteristics of plasmas dominated by bootstrap current at high $\beta_p$. At intermediate $q_{min}\geq 1.5$, high noninductive current fraction is possible with performance that projects to $Q\sim 5$ in ITER, both in double null and ITER-like shape. Divertor heat flux is reduced using increased radiation from impurity gas injection. At $q_{min}\sim 1$, ``high-$\ell_i$'' plasmas transiently reach $\beta_N>5$ with excellent confinement, but MHD avoidance and profile control are needed to achieve stationary high performance.