Performing Flexible Control on Low-Cost Microcontrollers Using a Minimal Real-Time Kernel

In recent years, approaches to control performance and resource optimization for embedded control systems have been receiving increased attention. Most of them focus on theory, whereas practical aspects are omitted. Theoretical advances demand flexible real-time kernel support for multitasking and p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on industrial informatics 2008-05, Vol.4 (2), p.125-133
Main Authors: Marau, R., Leite, P., Velasco, M., Marti, P., Almeida, L., Pedreiras, P., Fuertes, J.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive resource management
Control systems
Costs
Demand
Electrical equipment industry
Embedded computer systems
embedded systems
Enginyeria electrònica
Hardware
Industrial control
Informàtica
Intel·ligència artificial
Kernel
Kernel functions
Kernels
Marketing
Mass production
Microcontroladors
microcontroller
Microcontrollers
Microelectrònica
Multitasking
Optimization
Ordinadors immersos, Sistemes d
Real time
Real-time control
real-time kernel
Sistemes experts
Temps real (Informàtica)
Weight control
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
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Summary:In recent years, approaches to control performance and resource optimization for embedded control systems have been receiving increased attention. Most of them focus on theory, whereas practical aspects are omitted. Theoretical advances demand flexible real-time kernel support for multitasking and preemption, thus requiring more sophisticated and expensive software/hardware solutions. On the other hand, embedded control systems often have cost constraints related with mass production and strong industrial competition, thus demanding low-cost solutions. In this paper, it is shown that these conflicting demands can be softened and that a compromise solution can be reached. We advocate that recent research results on optimal resource management for control tasks can be implemented on simple multitasking preemptive real-time kernels targeting low-cost microprocessors, which can be easily built in-house and tailored to actual application needs. The experimental evaluation shows that significant control performance improvement can be achieved without increasing hardware costs.
ISSN:1551-3203
1941-0050
DOI:10.1109/TII.2008.923787