Design of Digital PID Controllers Relying on FPGA-based Techniques

Abstract

A major challenge of higher education institutions is to prepare professionals capable of learning by building effective solutions that are able to integrate different disciplines and knowledge areas. With this in mind, academics and researchers from ESPOL university in Ecuador, have designed laboratory experiments for a digital control class that introduces students to a modular design of embedded feedback controllers using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technologies. The proposed experiment includes the design of direct discrete time PID controllers, for an existing speed control system with three different sampling times, to test and compare their performance. The obtained controllers are implemented using a prototyping strategy that relies on FPGA development boards. The prototype controller is tested using the experimental plant, and the system performance is contrasted with results from simulations under realistic conditions.