A distributed computing approach to rapid prototyping for embedded controllers

A system has been developed at Ford that allows a control engineer to use Control System Design packages, such as MatrixX or MATLAB SIMULINK, to design a controller in graphical form, and generate C code which is then executed in synchronization with a pre-existing embedded controller to allow rapid evaluation of novel control ideas. No hardware modifications are required, as all the work is done in software using a shared memory interface between the embedded system and a PC/AT clone computer. The technical details are reviewed here.<
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