New, commercially available, automatic, code-generation tools are used in teaching and lab exercises to progress from controller design, to simulation, and finally to implementation on mechanical hardware. An embedded computing system consists of a dedicated, digital, electronic-processor that controls a system that interacts with the environment. Case studies highlighting a force-feedback joystick and motor servo control with encoder feedback are presented to illustrate laboratory exercises that teach mechanical engineering students hardware-in-the-loop control system design. Using these software tools, design iterations and multiple controllers are quickly simulated and downloaded to the actual hardware.
Implementing a safe embedded computing system in SRAM-based FPGAs using IP cores: A case study based on the Altera NIOS-II soft processor