The conceptual design has was discussed in a supervision in Michaelmas Week 3.
The diagram is being used as the baseline control system design to allow further development in Simulink.
The Compact RIO solution offers a complete control and interface solution so embedded control systems.
The following assessment was developed to help with decision making about use of Compact RIO, based on NI documentation.
Based on the embedded system configuration.
Now has wireless internet! View user-guide and datasheet
Advantages
Direction connection to sensors & actuators (ADC, DAC, isolation built-in)
200MHz processor & FPGA with built-in data transfer & logging
Communication to networked host computer (Ethernet, email, web hosting, ftp)
Cross-platform control using web-server interface
FPGA has built-in PID control functions and linear interpolation etc
Multi-loop PIDs on FPGA at up to 100kS/s analogue and 1MS/s digital
Case designed for harsh conditions and for small places
Windows-based LabView tools; 'real-time' development of software
Has on-board PDA interface / remote control web module
State diagram programming techniques
Disadvantages & Possible Resolutions
Cost is very high relative to seperates solution : donated by NI?
Still requires speed controllers for motors (>1A) : purchase and use analogue output
Ethernet for datalogging might need an umbilical? : WiFi support, PDA interface, text file logging on-board
64MB storage limit : 512MB version? Simplify data to be logged
Power supply as yet undetermined : consult formal specs
FPGA loses data at switch-off : installing to flash for loading onto FPGA at power-up
Wish-List of Components
cRIO-9002 controller
cRIO-9215 analogue inputs
cRIO-9263 analogue outputs
cRIO-9421 8-channel digital inputs (9423? x2?)
cRIO-9472 digital outputs (???)