Control and Data Acquisition Hardware and Software

The control and data acquisition hardware is a DS1003 controller board from dSPACE Inc., as shown here. The DS1003 is based on the Texas Instruments TMS320C40 floating-point Digital Signal Processor (DSP). In addition, the system is equipped with a DS2003 multi-channel ADC board which has 32 16-bit A/D channels and a DS2102 high-resolution D/A converter board which has 6 16-bit D/A channels. DS811/DS812 interface board is installed to connect the dSPACE system with host Pentium III PC with MATLAB/SIMULINK. Click here for the schematic of the data acquisition system.

The above advanced control implementation system makes the implementation of even complicated nonlinear control algorithms rather easy and straightforward so that students can concentrate on the design of advanced controllers. Students only have to program on the host PC using MATLAB Simulink with S-function and C-code. With a simple click, the system automatically compiles and generates the executable control code, and downloads the code to the DSP chip inside the dSPACE board to run the real-time experiments. In addition, the dual-port memory communication capability of the dSPACE board allows the control parameters to be changed on-line from the host PC under the normal Window environment, and the actual experimental results to be displayed on the PC at real-time. Finally, even with very complicated control algorithms, the dSPACE system can run at more than 1000 Hz sample frequency, well above the natural dynamics of the system which is approximately around 3-11 Hz.

Two joysticks are available to provide input signals to the systems as a means of manual operator control. Click here for the schematic diagram of the overall sensors, control and data acquisition system.