HIL simulation of a DC-DC converter controller on a Zynq

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) is known as an efficient simulation approach allowing the test of control systems before implementation, where some of the control-loop components are implemented in real hardware device and some are simulated. Typical, ordinary Input/Output ports are used as an interface between the plant simulation and the embedded system under test. However, this kind of communication can create a time delay between control system and plant model, making the system unstable. As a solution, we propose in this paper to implement all the control-loop in a Xilinx's Zynq System-on-Chip (SoC). By building the plant in the Processor Subsystem (PS) and implementing the controller in Programmable Logic (PL), the ordinary I/O interface is avoided. As an example of system, a digital PI regulator applied to a Buck converter is studied. The controller structure is implemented in the (PL) and the buck converter is simulated in the (PS).