Knowledge Center

Sensor Fusion and Motion Control for Autonomous Racing Cars

Learn how a research team from the Technical University of Munich uses Speedgoat real-time solutions, MATLAB^® and Simulink^® to develop and test an autonomous driving software stack, capable of operating a racing vehicle close to its physical limits. As an integral part of the framework, sensor fusion and motion control algorithms are optimized and validated for safe and accurate real-time operation, using Rapid Control Prototyping and Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation.

FPGA-based rapid control prototyping of permanent magnet synchronous motor servo drives

Due to tight time constraints and unknown disturbances, the position control problem in permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) drives remains exceedingly challenging. Download this technical article to learn more about experimental validation of a cascade control structure for position control in PMSM drives.

Speed Up Digital Control Development for Motors, Power Converters, and Battery Systems with Simulink®

Digital control design for power electronics using Simulink^® makes it easy to try new ideas, test them, and go to hardware without coding. You can use system-level models for desktop simulation, real-time simulation, and production code generation, speeding up designing and testing your power electronics control systems.

10 Ways to Speed Design for Digitally Controlled Power Converters with Simulink®

This whitepaper highlights ways to accelerate digital control development for power converters with system-level simulation, how to validate control code on the processor without damaging electrical system hardware and developing real-time simulations of your electrical system.

Designing a Generic, Software-Defined Multimode Radar Simulator For FPGAs Using Simulink® HDL Coder™ and Speedgoat Real-Time Hardware

This publication focuses on the implementation and testing of a fully-parameterized radar signal processing prototype. A Speedgoat Performance machine with two Simulink^®-Programmable FPGA I/O modules IO342 are used for the implementation of a radar signal processing design containing several common waveforms and tunable parameters and a radar scene generator for delay, doppler, and amplitude measurement.This setup helped increase the simulation fidelity while reducing the time to test.

Design, Simulation and Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Testing of an Electric Scooter Powertrain

This publication focuses on an algorithm to control a brushless DC motor. A Speedgoat performance machine runs a digital twin of the motor on both the CPU and the FPGA-based I/O module IO334 and is connected via the analog channels to the controller, an MCU by Texas Instruments. With this HIL setup, the performance of the control algorithm was tested. 

Certification Process for a Hybrid Electric Aircraft

The scientific aviation association (FVA) is developing the FVA 30, a hybrid electric motor glider, to research alternative propulsion systems. This article focuses on the certification process of the FVA 30 power train, using a Speedgoat target computer.

Battery Management System Integration into an Electronic Control Module for a Hybrid Electric Aircraft

Th­is article focuses on BMS integration into the electronic control module (ECM) of the FVA 30 hybrid electric motor glider using a Speedgoat real-time target machine. The challenge is to design an ECM for reliable data processing, allowing pilots to monitor and control the drivetrain.

Assessment of State-of-Charge Estimation Method for Lithium-Ion Batteries

In this paper, a numerical model of lithium-ion batteries is developed and deployed to a Speedgoat Baseline target machine. The estimation method for the state-of-charge (SOC), based on a nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) that are correctly trained with multiple datasets, is designed, and experimentally validated by hardware-in-the-loop simulation.

Publication on mdpi.com

Hardware-in-the-Loop Testing (HIL) of State-of-Charge (SoC) Estimation for Li-Ion Batteries

This study presents the design and validation of an SoC estimation method for lithium-ion batteries in hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV). The battery model is deployed on a Speedgoat Baseline machine connected to a Raspberry Pi emulating the ECU based on an artificial neural network for HIL testing. The algorithm can estimate the SoC of the battery with 2% accuracy during real-time testing.

Vorticity Dynamics of Leading-Edge Vortex Formation on a Revolving Wing

A leading-edge vortex (LEV) forms and remains stably attached on high angle-of-attack (AoA), low aspect ratio (AR) wings undergoing revolving or flapping motion at an insect’s wing. Here, the LEV formation on a revolving wing is investigated. The 'Shake-the-box' (STB) Lagrangian particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) system and a volumetric patching process helped reconstruct the entire time-resolved flow field.

Publication on springer.com

Independent Generation of Sequence Elements by Motor Cortex

Rapid execution of motor sequences depends on fusing movement elements into cohesive units that are executed holistically. The contribution of the primary motor and dorsal premotor cortex to this ability is determined in this paper. Also, the hypothesis that movement elements fuse makes specific predictions regarding three forms of activity, preparation, initiation, and execution is investigated.

Publication on nature.com

A Self-Tuning Robust Control System for Nonlinear Simulation

A transfer system is used to enforce the interface interaction between computational and physical substructures in a real-time hybrid simulation. A model-based, multilayer nonlinear control system is developed to accommodate extensive performance variations and uncertainties in a physical substructure. This work aims to extend the application of real-time simulation to investigating failure, nonlinearity, and nonstationary behavior. 

Publication on wiley.com

Leading-Edge Vortex and Transient Lift on a Revolving Wing at Low Reynolds Numbers

The transient formation and the stable attachment of the leading-edge vortex (LEV) contribute to the high lift generation of an insect wing when it revolves at high angles of attack. This study examined the leading-edge vortex (LEV) formation and the transient lift generation on a revolving wing, using combined computational and experimental methods.

Publication on sciencedirect.com

Modeling and Analysis of Medium Frequency Transformers for Power Converters

A mathematical model of a 3-phase medium frequency transformer (MFT) in an isolated DC-DC power converter, suitable for electromagnetic transient and steady-state simulation is developed. The transformer modeling methods are reviewed, and the Lagrange energy method is used to derive a physically motivated model for circuit analysis.

Publication on edu.pl

Verification of a Geographically Distributed Real-Time Hybrid Simulation Platform

This study presents a distributed real-time hybrid simulation (dRTHS) platform that enables the integration of geographically distributed physical and numerical components across the Internet. A series of numerical and experimental studies is evaluated, and it is demonstrated that dRTHS is feasible for coupling laboratory capabilities and is a viable alternative to traditional testing techniques.

Publication on wiley.com

Power Hardware in-the-Loop Validation of DC-DC Power Converter

The paper describes the development of a power converter small-scale mock-up and a real-time model of an offshore wind farm. Power Hardware In-the-Loop (PHIL) validation is proposed for a demonstration of grid architecture and control principles. Results obtained with a test bench underline the importance of PHIL testing in the power converter development for DC grid applications.

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

Experimental Validation of Model Predictive Control Applied to the Azura Wave Energy Converter

Ocean wave energy is a promising area of renewable energy development. However, there are unique operational challenges, particularly modeling, estimation, and control. This article presents a model-predictive control (MPC) formulation and its experimental testing applied to the 1/15th scale Azura wave energy converter developed by Northwest Energy Innovations (NWEI).

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

Adaptive Model Predictive Control in All-Electric Ship Microgrids

Hybrid energy storage systems have been widely used in transportation, microgrid, and renewable energy applications to improve system efficiency and enhance reliability. However, parameter uncertainty can significantly affect system performance. An adaptive model predictive control is developed to address this issue. Both simulation and experiments are performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive model predictive control. 

Publication on sciencedirect.com

Motion Planning and Experimental Validation for an Autonomous Bicycle

This paper introduces a prototype autonomous two-wheeled vehicle developed for experimental verification of motion planning and control algorithms. Finally, it presents and discusses experiments run on the actual vehicle for a particular maneuver. It emphasizes the differences between the trajectories created by different vehicle models.

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

Software Simulation Tool for Design of the Energy Management System in Elevators

This work shows the development of a software tool that provides realistic operation power profiles in elevators for residential and public buildings applications to accelerate Energy Management System prototyping. The simulator is validated and verified through computer simulations, through a HIL (Hardware-in-the- Loop) platform and is finally validated using a full-scale laboratory prototype.

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

Model-based Controller Design for a Knuckle Boom Crane

This paper proposes a predictive anti-sway control (ASC) scheme at kinematic level for a knuckle boom crane. Model predictive control (MPC) allows to consider dynamic limitations imposed by the crane's structure during payload stabilization. Operability of the derived control scheme is demonstrated for an initial load-deflection using a robot-based test setup.

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

Control of Delayed Bilateral Teleoperation System for Robotic Tele-Echography

This paper describes the development of a controller for a bilateral robotic system for tele-echography with delayed communications. The problems are solved using a novel approach to bilateral teleoperation control, based on a complete parameterization of feasible teleoperators. Experimental results show the potential of the proposed control method.

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

A Balanced Hybrid Active-Passive Actuation Approach for High-Performance Haptics

This paper describes the design of a high-performance balanced hybrid haptic device. The actuation, design, and control approaches are described and experimentally validated. The results show significant improvements in the stability and rendering range of the device. 

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org

A Software Architecture for an Autonomous Racecar

The authors present a detailed description of the software architecture used in the autonomous Roborace vehicles by the TUM-Team. The architecture combines the autonomous software functions perception, planning, and control, which are modularized for use on different hardware and to drive the car on high-speed racetracks. 

Publication on ieeexplore.ieee.org