FPGA based hardware-in-the loop controller for electric drives

Abstract

Research and industrial implementation of Digital Signal Processor (DSP) based electric drive controllers continue to increase each year. DSP-based controllers are typically implemented on FPGA's or DSP microcontrollers by using proprietary development software. FPGA's have advantages over DSP microcontrollers for control due to their parallel processing capability and flexible architectures. An FPGA based motor control system was developed using the Matlab Simulink Toolbox: Xilinx System Generator for DSP. A customized library was developed that has many common blocks used in the development of drive models. An FPGA board based on Xilinx's Spartan 6 family was also developed which can be used with a PC for hardware-in-the-loop co-simulation. The controller can be operated in a DSP-based Electric Drives Laboratory that is currently using a dSPACE rapid prototyping system. This is hence a cost-effective replacement that still provides the full processing power of dSPACE controllers.