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Application of xPC Target as a Prototyping Environment in Control System Laboratories

Cedric Demers-Roy, Richard Hurteau Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal

Abstract

This paper presents an example of application of xPC Target (product integrated with Matlab/Simulink) in an educational laboratory for real-time control experimentation. Equivalence between this environment and LabVIEW, another well known real-time environment for control, is discussed. Operating characteristics, cost, realization time, required expertise and implementation time are also presented. This example is realized on a classical system for position control using a DC motor. A complete control design process is applied on this test bench, from simulation to real-time control implementation. Result analysis indicates that xPC Target is a powerful environment for fast prototyping of real-time control loop as needed by undergraduate laboratories and for research activities implying fast testing of control algorithms on a specific system.

I. Introduction

Experimental testing of control algorithms requires an environment where simulation analysis and real time testing can be appropriately and efficiently realized. Unfortunately, simulations are time consuming and, most of the time in class room context, the effort needed to transfer the code from the simulation environment to the real-time control environment is under- estimated, leading to poor results analysis. In both industrial and academic fields, development time is critical and it is important to maintain the development effort minimal. Ideally, simulation and real-time implementation of control algorithms on a given system should be realized on the same development environment, so as to minimize this development time. To attain this objective, the selection of an environment for both simulations and real-time control is a critical choice.

Commercial software solutions like xPC Target (with Matlab/Simulink) and LabVIEW offer integrated environment for simulation and real time implementation. Both include tools to help reduce time and effort spent on the development of a module for simulations and real-time implementation of a given control theory. Moreover, a survey done in 1999 by ITRON [1] shows that performance, proved track record, industry usage and reliability are the main criteria for the selection of an operating system for a given control engineering project. In this paper Matlab and LabVIEW are explored as an integrated environment since they are commonly used

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Hurteau, R., & Demers-Roy, C. (2005, June), Application Of Xpc Target As A Prototyping Environment In Control System Laboratories Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14680