uCube: control platform for power electronics

This paper presents a versatile tool for development, control and testing of power electronics converters. In the last decade, many different expensive off-the-shelf tools for rapid prototyping and testing have been developed and commercialised by few market players. Recently, the increasing diffusion of low cost, Do It Yourself targeted development tools gained market shares previously controlled by conventional players. This trend has been driven by the fact that, despite their lower performances, many of these low cost systems are powerful enough to develop simple power electronics systems for learning and teaching purposes. This paper describes a control platform developed within the University of Nottingham, targeting at the market and application segment in between the expensive off-the-shelf control boards and the low cost emerging systems. The platform is based on the Microzed evaluation board, equipped with the Xilinx Zynq System-on-Chip. Its flexibility, features and performances will be addressed and examples of how they are being experimentally validated on different rigs will be provided

Banco de testes para monitoramento sub-Nyquist de espectro de banda larga

Radioelectric spectrum management is a concern for today’s world, mainly due to the misuse that has been given to this resource through the years, especially on the UHF band. To address this problem, a testbed for sub-Nyquist Wideband Spectrum Monitoring was built, that includes a web interface to remotely measure occupancy of the UHF band. To achieve the above, an RF interface that allows tuning UHF frequencies with an instantaneous bandwidth of 95 MHz was built. Afterwards, a Random Demodulator was connected, and then an embedded system performed sub--Nyquist sampling and spectrum recovery. The embedded system connected to an information system that serves a web page, through which remote users can perform UHF band monitoring. Experimental results showed that spectrum sensing can be achieved by using different algorithms on certain sparse spectra. In addition, the aforementioned web interface allowed simultaneous user connections, in order to perform independent measurements by sharing a hardware subsystem.La gestión del espectro radioeléctrico es una preocupación en la actualidad, hecho derivado, ante todo, del mal uso que se ha dado a este recurso a través de los años, especialmente en la banda de UHF. Para afrontar este problema, se construyó un banco de pruebas para la supervisión del espectro de banda ancha a través de muestreo sub-Nyquist, el cual incluye una interfaz web para medir de forma remota la ocupación de la banda UHF. Para lograr esto, se construyó una interfaz RF que permitiría sintonizar frecuencias UHF con un ancho de banda instantáneo de 95 MHz. Después, se conectó un demodulador aleatorio; y luego, un sistema embebido realizaría el muestreo sub-Nyquist y la recuperación del espectro. Este se conectaría, a su turno, con un sistema de información que sirve una página web, a través de la cual los usuarios remotos pueden realizar la supervisión de la banda de UHF. Los resultados muestran que la detección del espectro se puede lograr mediante diferentes algoritmos en ciertos espectros dispersos. Además, la interfaz web permitió que existiesen conexiones de usuario simultáneas, de tal manera que se realizaran mediciones independientes compartiendo el subsistema de hardware.O gerenciamento do espectro radioelétrico é uma preocupação na atualidade, fato derivado, inicialmente, do mau uso que se tem dado a esse recurso através dos anos, especialmente na banda de UHF. Para enfrentar esse problema, construiu-se um banco de testes para a supervisão do espectro de banda larga por meio de amostragem sub-Nyquist, a qual inclui uma interface web para medir de forma remota a ocupação da banda UHF. Para isso, construiu-se uma interface RF que permitiria sintonizar frequências UHF com uma largura de banda instantânea de 95 MHz. Em seguida, ligou-se um demodulador aleatório; logo, um sistema embebido realizaria a amostragem sub-Nyquist e a recuperação do espectro. Este se ligaria, por sua vez, com um sistema de informação que serve um site, através do qual os usuários remotos podem realizar a supervisão da banda de UHF. Os resultados mostram que a detecção do espectro pode ser conseguida mediante diferentes algoritmos em certos espectros dispersos. Além disso, a interface web permitiu que existissem conexões de usuário simultâneas, de tal maneira que se realizassem medidas independentes compartilhando o subsistema de hardware.&nbsp

Dependability investigation of wireless short range embedded systems: hardware platform oriented approach

A new direction in short-range wireless applications has appeared in the form of high-speed data communication devices for distances of hundreds meters. Behind these embedded applications, a complex heterogeneous architecture is built. Moreover, these short range communications are introduced into critical applications, where the dependability/reliability is mandatory. Thus, dependability concerns around reliability evaluation become a major challenge in these systems, and pose several questions to answer. Obviously, in such systems, the attribute reliability has to be investigated for various components and at different abstraction levels. In this paper, we discuss the investigation of dependability in wireless short range systems. We present a hardware platform for wireless system dependability analysis as an alternative for the time consuming simulation techniques. The platform is built using several instances of one of the commercial FPGA platforms available on the market place. We describe the different steps of building the wireless hardware platform for short range systems dependability analysis. Then, we show how this HW platform based dependability investigation framework can be a very interactive approach. Based on this platform we introduce a new methodology and a flow to investigate the different parts of system dependability at different abstraction levels. The benefits to use the proposed framework are three fold: first, it takes care of the whole system (HW/SW -digital part, mixed RF part, and wireless part); Second, the hardware platform enables to explore the application’s reliability under real environmental conditions taking into account the effect of the environment threats on the system; And last, the wireless platform built for dependability investigation present a fast investigation approach in comparison with the time consuming co-simulation technique

A Novel RF Architecture for Simultaneous Communication, Navigation, and Remote Sensing with Software-Defined Radio

The rapid growth of SmallSat and CubeSat missions at NASA has necessitated a re-evaluation of communication and remote-sensing architectures. Novel designs for CubeSat-sized single-board computers can now include larger Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and faster System-on-Chip (SoCs) devices. These components substantially improve onboard processing capabilities so that varying subsystems no longer require an independent processor. By replacing individual Radio Frequency (RF) systems with a single software-defined radio (SDR) and processor, mission designers have greater control over reliability, performance, and efficiency. The presented architecture combines individual processing systems into a single design and establishes a modular SDR architecture capable of both remote-sensing and communication applications. This new approach based on a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) SDR features a scalable architecture optimized for Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C), with sufficient noise performance and phase-coherence to enable both remote-sensing and navigation applications, while providing a communication solution for simultaneous S-band and X-band transmission. This SDR design is developed around the NASA CubeSat Card Standard (CS2) that provides the required modularity through simplified backplane and interchangeable options for multiple radiation-hardened/tolerant processors. This architecture provides missions with a single platform for high-rate communication and a future platform to develop cognitive radio systems