RABBIT-a modular rapid-prototyping platform for distributed mechatronic systems

A basic idea of the mechatronic design is to decompose a mechatronic system into subsystems in order to make the complex structure manageable. This paper introduces a platform, named RABBIT, which helps the designer in the development of mechatronic systems during the simulation and implementation stages. At these stages, software- and hardware-in-the-loop simulation is usually necessary. Our purpose is to develop a modular hardware and software platform for distributed real-time applications. The hardware comprises three main components: IEEE 1394, MPC555 microcontroller, and FPGA. The central aim of this project is high flexibility and extensibility of the platform. Two case-studies are described to exemplify the implementation of such a platform. One is named X-mobile (a novel modular mechatronic vehicle) and the other is the TESLA system (Test Site for Laboratory Automation).