Universal fixed‐point digital controller for control theory studies

Abstract

The laboratories of control theory are often limited to simulations and a few or none experimental tests. As in other technical subjects, practical experiments really help to understand the theory but need much time and the experimental platforms are usually expensive. This paper describes a platform that implements a universal third‐order discrete controller based on field programmable gate array (FPGA). The controller is implemented using fixed‐point arithmetic, with 17‐bit coefficients, but students can reduce the number of bits to find the resolution problems that may arise. This low‐cost platform, based on a Xilinx Spartan FPGA, allows students to try controllers just by configuring the coefficients of the controller through a computer application and a USB port. It drastically reduces the implementation time, allowing more time for design and testing. Therefore, students can try many controllers in the same laboratory session so that they can check experimentally their behavior in real prototypes and see the differences between simulations and physical systems. This platform has been applied in a real course over two academic years. The student opinion survey shows that the survey respondents consider the platform useful for more deeply understanding the subject, with an average score of 4.47/5.00 on a Likert scale (with a margin of error of 15.56% with a 95% confidence level). Besides this, the platform records the usage statistics showing that there is a relationship between the application usage and the marks in both the theory and laboratory parts.

Technical teacher training program for engineering integration in K‐12 education

“…In all of the studies discussed above, updating the contents of Digital Design courses or courses that have similar content but are called by different names at the high school level [1,4,5,14,15,17] or undergraduate level [2,4,6,9,13,25,26,29] has been addressed. It is seen that this update is mainly based on two motivations: The first one is to meet the qualified manpower required by the industry [1,2,5,9,29]; the second one is to encourage students to take engineering education in university education [4, 6, 11, 13-15, 17, 25, 26] as aimed indirectly in this study.…”

“…The study by Lukovic et al [11] highlights the significance of remote laboratories in introductory engineering courses for teaching digital circuit design concepts, emphasizing the utilization of FPGAs to allow students to design, simulate, and test digital circuits, thereby bridging theoretical knowledge with its practical application. In both studies Ersoy and Kumral [4] and Sanchez et al [25], the design, implementation, and results of experimental sets constructed by utilizing the reconfigurable advantage of FPGA as a teaching material are discussed. The study, Ersoy and Kumral [4], unlike the others, discusses the advantage of FPGA in reducing the cost of preparing training materials for related courses.…”

“…The study, Ersoy and Kumral [4], unlike the others, discusses the advantage of FPGA in reducing the cost of preparing training materials for related courses. While Ersoy and Kumral [4] discuss the development of an FPGA‐based experiment set to enhance the effectiveness and understanding of Digital Communication, Digital Electronics, and Logical Design courses in high school or junior‐level courses in universities, Sanchez et al [25] highlight an FPGA‐based educational tool for Control Systems course, simplifying control theory learning through hands‐on digital controller experiments, thereby enhancing practical understanding. The reconfigurable FPGA architecture enabled the development of a teaching material suitable for different course contents with a single experiment set instead of using different experiment sets for each course.…”