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Control System Design Based on Modern Embedded Systems

Conference Paper · February 2013

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-53862-9_62

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 Control System Design Based on Modern
Embedded Systems

Ahmed Khamis1 , Dawid Zydek1 , Grzegorz Borowik2 , and D. Subbaram Naidu1

1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA
{khamahme,zydedawi,naiduds}@isu.edu
2
Institute of Telecommunications, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
G.Borowik@tele.pw.edu.pl

Abstract. The functionality and complexity of real-world engineering

control systems is increasing significantly due to continuous growth in
requirements and their details. Since this trend is predicted to grow even
stronger, the old control solutions will be becoming less and less efficient.
There are several approaches to designing modern control systems that
meet the current and future needs. In this paper, we focus on one of the
promising ways to control engineering: Embedded Systems. We describe
categories of embedded systems and an engineering approach to control
systems design based on the embedded systems. All related challenges
are presented considering weaknesses of traditional systems. For the de-
scribed embedded control system, a design methodology is given as well.
Our discussion focuses on approach based on Field-Programmable Gate
Array (FPGA) as a solution with huge potential. Finally, we share our
thoughts on further trends in modern embedded control systems.

Keywords: embedded systems, embedded control design, real-time control.

1 Introduction
In advance of the development of automatic control solutions, electromechanical
relay was the standard way of machine control. By 1960s, electromechanical re-
lays were the control module of choice for most control system engineers. Several
systems still use relay-based controls [1].
A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is an electronic device that is de-
signed specifically for the control of mechanisms and processes. The purpose of
a PLC was to directly substitute electromechanical relays as logic elements, re-
placing them with a solid-state digital computer containing a stored program.
The computer was able to emulate the interconnection of many relays to achieve
certain logical tasks. Instead of wires, there could be bits inside of a memory
circuit that would order the logics [4].
An embedded system is a special-purpose integration of computer hardware
and software designed to perform a particular function, and in most cases with
real-time computing constraints. It is usually embedded as part of a larger system
including hardware and other mechanical parts [12]. Alternatively, a general-
purpose computer, e.g. a personal computer, can do several different tasks.

R. Moreno-Dı́az et al. (Eds.): EUROCAST 2013, Part II, LNCS 8112, pp. 491–498, 2013.

c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
492 A. Khamis et al.

Embedded systems have become very important as they control many of the
common devices in our daily life. The embedded systems can be a single micro-
controller chip or may be a large framework with multiple elements, peripheral
devices and other mechanical parts [18].
In this paper, we discuss the main categories of embedded systems based on
functionality and performance; and the effect of the complexity of real-world
on the embedded control systems engineering requirements. Embedded control
system architecture and methodology are also addressed. We also study the
disadvantages of traditional control systems and how the development of recent
embedded control technology can overcome these weaknesses.
The reminder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents different
categories of the embedded systems. Section 3 poses the engineering challenges
and requirements of embedded systems applications. The design aspects of em-
bedded control systems are discussed in Section 4, while their development is
presented in Section 5. The paper is summarized in Section 6.

2 Categories of Embedded Systems

Embedded systems have very limited resources; particularly the computational
power and the memory size. On the other hand, for solving specific real-time
application, the simpler design is reflected in both hardware and software [12].
Based on functionality and performance requirements, there are three main cat-
egories of embedded systems as described below.

2.1 Stand-Alone Embedded Systems

Stand-alone systems are the systems that work in stand-alone mode. They take
inputs, process them and produce the desired output. The input can be, for
example, electrical signals from transducers. The output can be, for example,
electrical signals to drive an LCD display for displaying information to the users.
Such systems do not have many software modules and redundant functions.
Embedded systems used in stand-alone Digital Video Recorder (DVR) belong
to this category [9].

2.2 Real-Time Systems

Embedded systems are called real-time systems when they have to do some spe-
cific work in a specific period of time. Real-time systems can be categorized into
hard real-time systems, soft real-time systems, and hybrid real-time systems.
Hard real-time systems are the systems that work against some rigorous dead-
lines. Missing a deadline may cause severe consequences. On the other hand, in
soft real-time systems a delay of milliseconds in executing some commands can
occur without causing damage to the equipment. Hybrid real-time systems are
the systems that demonstrate both hard and soft restrictions on its performance.
 Control System Design Based on Modern Embedded Systems 493

2.3 Network Information Appliances

Embedded systems that are provided with network interfaces and accessed by
networks (e.g. LAN, MAN, or WAN) are called networked information appliances
[20]. These embedded systems are connected to a network, typically a network
running TCP/IP protocol suite, such as the Internet or a company’s Intranet.
These systems have significantly developed in recent years.

3 Challenges in Engineering Applications of Embedded

Systems
Many of the benefits and requirements of the embedded systems, e.g. low cost
and small size are typical for embedded systems in general. Some challenges
are more specifically associated with engineering applications [2]. Engineering
requirements vary extremely from application to application, but typical special
engineering requirements are presented in this section.

3.1 Availability and Reliability

Availability is the degree to which a system or subsystem is operating in a steady
state at the start of a task, when the task is called for at a random time.
Reliability is the ability of a system or subsystem to perform its required
functions under specified conditions for some period of time.

3.2 Safety
Safety in the context of embedded systems deals with minimizing the frequency
of accidents (e.g. death, injuries, or system damage). As an example, a gas leak at
an oil platform should be immediately detected and followed by a safe shutdown
process. Otherwise, expensive damage or even human lives could be at risk.

3.3 Real-Time Deterministic Response

The definition of real-time varies with the application. Some applications can be
described as slow real-time systems, e.g. the temperature in a chemical reaction
at a certain point may need to be measured no more than once per second. On
the other hand, protection devices for high-voltage equipment are fast real-time
systems. In this case, voltages need to be sampled thousands of times per second
to response within a fraction of a power-cycle.

3.4 Power Consumption

Apparently, the power consumption of industrial electronics may appear minor
requirement because of the great quantity of power is available. However, this
power is not always available. Even when power is available, high power con-
sumption increases the size and weight requirements of the power supply [19].
494 A. Khamis et al.

3.5 Lifetime
Designing an embedded system requires taking into account the complete prod-
uct life cycle, from initial product concept, through its operational period, and
finally into replacement with newer equipment.

4 Embedded Control Systems Design

As control systems increase in complexity and functionality, in many cases it is
not possible to use analog controllers. Currently almost all controllers are dig-
itally implemented on computers [10]. Many difficulties with analog controllers
can be avoided by using a digital computer [16].

4.1 Structure
The general architecture of an embedded control system consists of four main
components: the physical system that is being controlled, a sensor that contains
an Analog-to-Digital (A/D) converter, an embedded controller, an actuator that
contains a Digital-to-Analog (D/A) converter, and, in some cases, a network, as
shown in Fig. 1. The most basic operations within the control loop are sensing,
control, and actuation [8].

Fig. 1. General structure of embedded control systems

The A/D converter is used to transform the continuous-time outputs of the

physical system into digital signals at sampling times. The controller takes these
digital outputs and generates sequence of control instructions according to spe-
cific control algorithms. The D/A converter is used to transform the digital
signals into continuous-time signals that can be applicable to the controlled sys-
tem. In case of networked environment, the sequences of sampled data need to be
transferred from the sensor to the controller, and the control commands must be
transferred from the controller to the actuator. Both transformations are done
over the communication network, which can be wire line or wireless [11].
In a multitasking embedded control system, multiple tasks need to be per-
formed at the same time. Each task takes a finite amount of computation at
time. Tasks may compete for the use of the same embedded controller when
they run simultaneously, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
 Control System Design Based on Modern Embedded Systems 495

Fig. 2. A multitasking embedded control system

4.2 Design Methodology

Traditionally, the development cycle of a control system consists of two main
steps: controller design and implementation. These two steps are often sepa-
rated, as shown in V shaped trajectory called V-model [14], as illustrated in
Fig. 3. Moving downward starting from set of requirements in the V-model, the
control engineers describe the physical processes using mathematical equations.
The model should be a close approximation of the real system. Then, the con-
trol algorithms are designed. In the V-model, simulation is the bottom of the left
stroke. Simulation is used to optimize system performance before a new system
is built. After the control algorithms have been designed and verified in the first
step, they need to be implemented. Moving up in the right stroke, the software
engineers develop the programs executing the control algorithms designed in the
first step. The implemented modules are then composed together according to
the design. Next, they are tested and modified until the system is eventually con-
structed. Testing will take place many times before the satisfactory performance
is achieved. System test is the last step of the right stroke of the V-model.

Fig. 3. Traditional development process of control software

In resource-constrained embedded environments, it is clear that the traditional

design methodology cannot guarantee the desired time-based performance. Fur-
thermore, the development cycle of a system with good performance may possi-
bly take a long time, making it hard to support rapid development, that is very
important for commercial embedded products [11].
496 A. Khamis et al.

5 Development of Embedded Control Technology

5.1 Recent Embedded Control Systems
The functionality, complexity and reliability of embedded control systems are
of increasing interests and demands. Although researchers have achieved some
successes in the embedded real-time control [5,6,10,15]; there are still some chal-
lenges and weaknesses:
– Implementation of complex control algorithms involves heavy programming
task. Currently, most embedded software development platforms are utilizing
object oriented programming languages, e.g. C++ or Java. The advantage
lies in flexibility, but at the same time it brings many challenges for the
engineers. In addition, the quality and reliability of the hand-written code
always cannot be guaranteed. So, many advanced control algorithms still
could not be applied in the practical engineering applications [7].
– Hard real-time systems need improvement. Currently, most commercial em-
bedded controllers adopt Microsoft Windows CE or Linux as Operating Sys-
tem (OS). Since most generic embedded OSes are soft real-time systems,
they are still not appropriate for high performance control of fast response
systems. However, they are much better than OSes for PCs.
– Time and cost of developing embedded control systems are still too high.
Usually, the development of embedded control systems is more complex than
that of PC-based control systems. The design and implementation of embed-
ded control systems are often done separately, which makes the development
of the systems highly time-consuming and costly.
Currently developed networked embedded real-time controller enables inte-
grated design and implementation of embedded control systems. It uses rapid
prototyping and network technology. With the developed platform, the design
and implementation of a complex control system will become relatively simple
and the development time can be significantly reduced. The overall architecture
of the networked embedded real-time controller is shown in Fig. 4 [7].
The main features of the networked embedded real-time controller include:
i) High performance of the controller based on dual-core processor: ARM with

Fig. 4. System architecture of networked embedded real-time controller

 Control System Design Based on Modern Embedded Systems 497

Digital Signal Processor (DSP); ii) Possibility of implementation complex control

strategies on the embedded platform enhanced by the computational capacity of
Matlab; iii) Reduction of the development time; iv) Parameter tuning and signal
monitoring can be done by Internet; v) Applicability to a variety of fields such
as control engineering, optimization, fault diagnoses and education [7].

5.2 Embedded Control Using FPGAs

Modern FPGAs allow the implementation of efficient multicore processors. As
a consequence, FPGAs can be first viewed as programmable microcontrollers
where designers can combine one or several processors with dedicated peripherals
and computing hardware accelerators [17]. They can be seen as real System-on-
Chip (SoC) digital platforms. Modern FPGAs have additional units that make
the applications design easier and more efficient; and they provide embedded
memories and embedded logic blocks for arithmetic calculations [3]. Designers
can also use pure specific hardware architectures for rigorous applications in
terms of performance. Thus, the design and real-time implementation of control
loops with sampling frequency exceeding few hundred MHz is now possible. The
main disadvantage of this technology is the cost. FPGAs are more expensive
comparing to their DSP and microcontroller; however, considering the cost per
function, an FPGA may be more attractive than a microcontroller. Another dis-
advantage is the difficulty to integrate mixed Analog/Digital converters, within
current FPGAs. This drawback is overcome with the modern FPGAs that inte-
grate Analog/Digital converters [13].

6 Summary
At present, many requirements are associated with engineering applications.
These new requirements make the traditional control system less efficient. Em-
bedded systems are playing a vital role in control engineering. One of the most
recent techniques of the embedded control systems is a networked embedded
real-time controller, on which simulation, modeling and real-time control can
be easily implemented to meet the new requirements of complex control appli-
cations. FPGA-based controllers represent a very efficient way to high-demand
control applications. They take the advantages of reconfiguration capability, very
large number of gates and transistors, and supported protocols. FPGAs are ap-
propriate for high-speed applications. Indeed, FPGAs provide many benefits in
terms of safety, rapidity, and power consumption that places them as a leading
solution for current and future control systems.

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