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Control Systems

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Here are some projects that Templetronics expertise has successfully contributed to the design of in the technology field of control systems

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Control systems systems step response

UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)

Project: Systems and Motor Control Design for a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)
Technologies:
Four rotor and sub-frame design, using off the shelf power controllers and motor modules.
Description:


Control systems systems step response

Templetronics provided consultancy and control systems expertise for the UAV to the Client company, a new technology start-up in the form of system and motor drive expertise in the design of unmanned four-rotor UAVs, providing technical input into system modelling, motor systems, control law algorithms design and implementation, and system stability for both airframe and motor.


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Brushless DC Motor (speed control system)

Project: Brushless DC-motor controller digital control system
Description:

Control System Response

Advanced brushless DC motor control system.Templetronics was heavily involved at both the system and detailed design implementation from the concept to right throughout system performance and design validation testing. As well as the controller design and implementation, which was modelled against Matlab/Simulink models, facilitated in system debug, performance testing, gain settings determination and system tuning, torque-speed characterisation on a dynamometer and systems consultation, as well as analogue and digital circuit design. Some advanced concepts were a feature of this project, notably modification of the torque-speed characterisation using field weakening, and a sensorless DSP based feedback scheme using CORDIC processors to replace tachometers for rate feedback.


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Brushless DC Motor (position and speed control system)

Project: Brushless DC-motor controller digital control system
Description:

Advanced brushless DC motor control system-position control.Templetronics was provided consultation on a position control system using a Brushless-DC 3 phase synchronous machine. Driving complex aerodynamic mechanical loads, with multiple actuator arms, and protection devices, against varying aerodymanic loads, we were pleased to be called upon for our services. Our drives and control experience, resulted in our Client saving a considerable amount of money on the system development, compared to other recommendations.

System elements included Resolvers for position measurements, which in turn was turned into speed data via a 2nd order CORDIC algorithm based tracking filter, and the final system contained Park-Clark Transforms for accurate machine field (current) control, and Space Vector Modulation for PWM, driving a 3 phase IGBT Bridge. The controller was implemnented in a single FPGA system as the digital controller for the speed control with a Freescale MCU closing the position loop and receiving validated data from the sensors.



Control System Response

Brushed DC Motor (position control system)

Project: Brushed DC-motor control system digital control system
Description:

Control System Response

Digital control system for a brushed DC motor actuator system containing the above technologies, and we were heavily involved with system concept through to productionisation of the design. We provided input into topics such as digitisation of analogue algorithms to the digital domain, interfacing to digital devices from the analogue world as well as high speed digital design and overall electronics system design. A key feature of this project was the implementation of a digital observer to monitor motor velocity, used in place of expensive tachometers.


The control goal was position control, implemented using a standard PI controller, in the digital domain. The previously mentioned observer was used to improved system response.


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CD/DVD Focus Control

Project: CD/DVD Focus Control System
Description:

Focus control system for loop closure to maintain constant focus error in a high performance CD/DVD control system. Working on the digitisation of older analogue systems to digital control, this design contained high speed data acquisitioning elements at the front end to quantise the two differential error signals to provide position error. Control laws were then implemented in a DSP driving a DAC and amplifier to control the diode position maintaining a constant position from the optical disk. At the time of this design data rates were not as high as modern drives, (sampling rate versus spin speed is one factor in the servo loop trade-off). A DSP was selected to minimise control law calculation calculation latency including the estimator, providing enough response time in the system to meet control within fractional micrometre error positioning requirement.

Control systems for CD/DVD systems have to cope with a variety of disturbances ranging from disk skew, oscillations to scratches and fingerprints. The performance criteria is also quite specific, with two loop gain criteria specified to cope with the encountered disturbances. Higher data rates and higher density disk technologies such as DVDs and Blu-Ray drives, whose faster data rates/spin speeds yield tighter performance criteria. Thus, given the control specifications, the design of such systems is quite challenging and typically implements a dynamic lag-lead compensator to achieve the gain-phase specifications.

With the production of CD-DVD drives, this system saw the introduction of a very complex engineering system into the commercial field containing many technology considerations, ranging from analogue signal conditioning, and data conversion, control laws, digital control implementation, embedded systems and motor drives, not to mention the physics involved in the optical disk reading path and the considered chemistry of the actual disc technology. This remains an interesting piece of technology despite the fall from grace of optical disks in favour of newer storage technologies such as Flash memory, SSD's, and Cloud Server storage.

Control System Response

For more details on the digital control side aspects, see the Digital ASICs & FPGAs project page and also the Embedded systems projects page . Also see the Mixed signal projects page and EMC & High Speed Digital projects page for additional information as well as the Analogue projects page for signal conditioning.

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Control Systems Response

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