Design of a programmable platform for the control of mobile robots based on a multi-FPGA architecture

This work presents the design of a programmable platform for mobile robots control, based on a multi-FPGA architecture. The designed platform presents four FPGAs distributed in three processing levels. In the presented platform the user will be able to program systems with two closed-loop controls, which contain the navigation system of the mobile robot, and the control of its actuators. The upper processing level has a Xilinx
^reg
XC4VSX35-FF668, in which the platform user can program the navigation control of the robot. Three Xilinx
^reg
XC3S2000-FG676 are the programmable units for the other two processing levels, one in the middle level and two in the lower level, and between these FPGAs the user can program a distributed control of actuators. The programmable control platform designed in this project will allow the user to test, independently, the real performance of different navigation systems and controls of actuators, while keeping a low money investment.