FPGAs in Industrial Control Applications

The aim of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technologies and their contribution to industrial control applications. Authors start by addressing various research fields which can exploit the advantages of FPGAs. The features of these devices are then presented, followed by their corresponding design tools. To illustrate the benefits of using FPGAs in the case of complex control applications, a sensorless motor controller has been treated. This controller is based on the Extended Kalman Filter. Its development has been made according to a dedicated design methodology, which is also discussed. The use of FPGAs to implement artificial intelligence-based industrial controllers is then briefly reviewed. The final section presents two short case studies of Neural Network control systems designs targeting FPGAs

Identification of patients with abetalipoproteinemia and homozygous familial hypobetalipoproteinemia in Tunisia

BACKGROUND: Abetalipoproteinemia (ABL) and Homozygous Familial Hypobetalipoproteinemia (Ho-FHBL) are rare monogenic diseases characterised by very low plasma levels of cholesterol and triglyceride and the absence or a great reduction of apolipoprotein B (apoB)-containing lipoproteins. ABL results from mutations in the MTP gene; Ho-FHBL may be due to mutations in the APOB gene. METHODS: We sequenced MTP and APOB genes in three Tunisian children, born from consanguineous marriage, with very low levels of plasma apoB-containing lipoproteins associated with severe intestinal fat malabsorption. RESULTS: Two of them were found to be homozygous for two novel mutations in intron 5 (c.619-3T>G) and in exon 8 (c.923 G>A) of the MTP gene, respectively. The c.619-3T>G substitution caused the formation of an abnormal mRNA devoid of exon 6, predicted to encode a truncated MTP of 233 amino acids. The c.923 G>A is a nonsense mutation resulting in a truncated MTP protein (p.W308X). The third patient was homozygous for a novel nucleotide deletion (c.2172delT) in exon 15 of APOB gene resulting in the formation of a truncated apoB of 706 amino acids (apoB-15.56). CONCLUSIONS: These mutations are expected to abolish the apoB lipidation and the assembly of apoB-containing lipoproteins in both liver and intestine