A New Low-Cost DSP Educational Tool for a Laboratory for Motor Control

Abstract

There has been an increasing use of modern digital signal processors (DSPs) in industrial control and other applications in the past few years. While courses offered in electrical and computer engineering disciplines cover such topics as mobile and digital communication, image and sound encoding and decoding, few courses focus on the use of DSPs in real-time control of electrical machinery and drives. Therefore, there is a growing need in industry for engineers who can perform control design and system integration for various applications in motor control. This paper describes a course on Control of Electrical Machines offered by the School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona (ETSEIB), Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona, Spain. A description of a hands-on laboratory testbed for motor control. An outline of the course structure, the laboratory setup and the design aspects for implementing modern real-time motor control applications are presented.