The design of control systems for high speed machines

A fundamental issue in the rapid prototyping of next generation control systems for high speed machines relates to the system decomposition. Genericity, reusability and real-time performance criteria of control software are paramount design considerations. This paper outlines collaborative work undertaken at the Manufacturing Systems Integration (MSI) Research institute at Loughborough University (LU) and the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Aston University (AU) in the design of control systems for high speed machines. MSI's emphasis has been on the integrated modelling and design of high level machine control software by using device independent instructions and data to perform the control. Work at AU has concentrated on optimising the dynamic performance of the machine at the lowest levels by developing detailed physical models of the system components and hence resolving stability and robustness issues. A discussion of the integration of these high and low level models to enable the prototyping of control system software for high performance machinery is presented.