Model-based design for mechatronics systems

It is now practical to write software for real-time systems long before the actual computer hardware is sitting in a physical prototype. In today’s world it is rare to find electromechanical devices without some kind of embedded computer system. In fact, the intelligence provided by an embedded system is often the key that differentiates a piece of equipment from its competitors. But the benefits of an embedded system come at a price. As mechatronic systems take advantage of more powerful microprocessors, the interaction between hardware and software becomes more complex. Managing this complexity can prove challenging to hardware and software engineering teams, who state requirements, describe problems, and test and implement their ideas in different ways. Adding to the complexity is that most of these systems involve closed-loop control strategies that compensate for electromechanical interactions and external disturbances. With these challenges comes the need to run open-loop supervisory control for such operational requirements as startup and shutdown, personnel and equipment safety, and fault detection and remediation. Mechatronic-design methods today emphasize mechanical modeling before any hardware gets built. However, we often do not see this same approach when developing embedded systems. In most traditional cases, engineers address software validation very late in the development process, only testing their software on hardware prototypes. Errors found in hardware or software at this stage create costly delays. It can be time consuming to trace problems back to their root cause. Errors related to incomplete, incorrect, or conflicting requirements may even necessitate a fundamental redesign. Model-Based Design addresses such difficulties. It simplifies the development of mechatronic systems by providing a common environment for design and communication across different engineering disciplines. The roots of Model-Based Design began in the early 1990s with the aerospace and automotive industries, which were continuously building more microprocessors into their products. Aerospace and automotive engineers recognized the advantages of simulating multidomain systems for the purposes of developing embedded controls. In the mid-1990s, simulation of control algorithms led to automatic generation of code from the math model. The successful use of Model-Based Design by these industries proved that simulation and automatic code generation for embedded systems are economical and time-efficient approaches for developing mechatronic systems. During the last five years, other industries involved in mechatronic development have discovered Model-Based Design. The combined effects of more powerful software and dropping costper- MIP of desktop computers has let Model-Based Design spread in much the same way as CAD/FEA software. Just as CAD provides a geometric way of