Prototyping of Industrial Controls and Equipment

Early development stages require a fast and simple way to perform first control designs in real-time. Instead of using a PLC, you can easily deploy your algorithms to Speedgoat hardware. This offers faster build times and instrumentation integrated with MATLAB^® and Simulink^®. Standard industrial protocol interfaces such as PROFINET Controller, EtherNet/IP Scanner, and CANopen Master I/O modules allow exchanging data with the controlled system in the same way common PLC technology does. Your real-time application can then control the pitch system of a wind turbine, the packaging robot in a factory or the lighting system in a tunnel.

Instead of designing from scratch, discover available Simulink^® blocksets and functions from MathWorks^® which fit your application best: Use Stateflow^® for modeling decision logic and fault management, and use Simulink Control Design™ to develop and automatically tune PID controllers. 

Prototyping of systems and devices on the field level requires a connection to the PLC on the one side and sensors and actuators on the other side. Users can easily extend their motion control algorithms with interfaces like PROFINET Device and PROFIBUS Slave to connect a programmable logic controller. Interfacing position encoders via EnDat, SSI, or digital inputs is possible as well.

Configuration of EtherCAT slave devices with custom identification data can be conveniently done in Simulink^®, using dedicated driver blocks. Define your own Process Data Objects (PDO) and Service Data Objects (SDO) and finally export a custom electronic data sheet (ESI file).

The Simulink^® Motor Control Blockset™ provides blocks for developing motor control algorithms. The blockset includes examples that show how to estimate motor parameters and autotune controller designs. In addition, an Electric Motor Control Kit is available, letting you discover brushless DC motor control with Simulink and Speedgoat. 

Prototyping of new controls in running plants is challenging as it may impact operation. Usually, the plant's architecture, programming tools, and development methods do not allow efficient experimentation with new technologies. Engineers adopt the Simulink^® Real-Time™ testing workflow to take advantage of Simulink^® capabilities for modeling, tuning, and optimizing model-based control designs running in real-time on Speedgoat hardware.  

Connect to the plant controller by adding the target machine to the existing industrial network (PROFINET, EtherCAT, …) or using other Ethernet-based protocols such as Real-time UDP and Modbus TCP to interface the PLC directly. The so-called bypass controller is then prepared to receive actual data from the plant. The real-time application calculates additional control values that the PLC sends to the related controlled system, such as the cutting system of a newspaper printing machine or the deicing unit of a wind turbine.

The System Identification Toolbox™ provides techniques that help identify continuous-time and discrete-time transfer functions of the controlled system. The ability to predict the system response makes it easy to develop an initial control design quickly.