Control of Renewable Integrated Systems Targeting Advanced Landmarks, Final (24 months) consortium report. Project no.: TREN/07/FP6EN/S07.73100/038406. Series: TREN/07/FP6EN/S07.73100/038406.

The CRISTAL project has had significant achievements in the coordination of the research work carried out by the consortium members on renewables, the enhancement of partners’ knowledge on Renewable Energy Sources and their integrated control and use, which contributes to the development of key enabling technologies for distributed/smart energy networks. The dissemination of the consortium’s relevant work was also achieved through various mechanisms, along with the facilitation of the renewable energy technologies transfer from established EU countries to new EU members (Romania, Poland). The identification of common interests and niche areas, where intensive further coordinated research is needed at European level, is also an important outcome

Modeling and Design of Digital Electronic Systems

The paper is concerned with the modern methodologies for holistic modeling of electronic systems enabling system-on-chip design. The method deals with the functional modeling of complete electronic systems using the behavioral features of Hardware Description Languages or high level languages then targeting programmable devices - mainly Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) - for the rapid prototyping of digital electronic controllers. This approach offers major advantages such as: a unique modeling and evaluation environment for complete power systems, the same environment is used for the rapid prototyping of the digital controller, fast design development, short time to market, a CAD platform independent model, reusability of the model/design, generation of valuable IP, high level hardware/software partitioning of the design is enabled, Concurrent Engineering basic rules (unique EDA environment and common design database) are fulfilled. The recent evolution of such design methodologies is marked through references to case studies of electronic system modeling,simulation, controller design and implementation. Pointers for future trends / evolution of electronic design strategies and tools are given

Direct neural-network hardware-implementation algorithm

An algorithm for compact neural network hardware implementation is presented, which exploits special properties of the Boolean functions describing the operation of artificial neurones with step activation function. The algorithm contains three steps: ANN mathematical model digitisation, conversion of the digitised model into a logic gate structure, and hardware optimisation by elimination of redundant logic gates. A set of C++ programs automates algorithm implementation, generating optimised VHDL code. This strategy bridges the gap between ANN design software and hardware design packages (Xilinx). Although the method is directly applicable only to neurones with step activation functions, it can be extended to sigmoidal functions

FPGA design methodology for industrial control systems—a review

This paper reviews the state of the art of fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA) design methodologies with a focus on industrial control system applications. This paper starts with an overview of FPGA technology development, followed by a presentation of design methodologies, development tools and relevant CAD environments, including the use of portable hardware description languages and system level programming/design tools. They enable a holistic functional approach with the major advantage of setting up a unique modeling and evaluation environment for complete industrial electronics systems. Three main design rules are then presented. These are algorithm refinement, modularity, and systematic search for the best compromise between the control performance and the architectural constraints. An overview of contributions and limits of FPGAs is also given, followed by a short survey of FPGA-based intelligent controllers for modern industrial systems. Finally, two complete and timely case studies are presented to illustrate the benefits of an FPGA implementation when using the proposed system modeling and design methodology. These consist of the direct torque control for induction motor drives and the control of a diesel-driven synchronous stand-alone generator with the help of fuzzy logic

Fire detection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in a Mixed Reality-based System

This paper proposes the employment of a low-cost Micro-electro-mechanical system including; inertial measurement unit (IMU), a consumer-grade digital camera and a fire detection algorithm with a nano unmanned aerial vehicle for inspection application. The video stream (monocular camera) and navigation data (IMU) rely on state-of-the-art indoor/outdoor navigation system. The system combines robotic operating system and computer vision techniques to render metric scale of monocular vision and gravity observable to provide robust, accurate and novel inter-frame motion estimates. The collected onboard data are communicated to the ground station and processed using a Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) system. A robust and efficient re-localisation SLAM was performed to recover from tracking failure, motion blur and frame lost in the received data. The fire detection algorithm was deployed based on the colour, movement attributes, temporal variation of fire's intensity and its accumulation around a point. A cumulative time derivative matrix was used to detect areas with fire's high-frequency luminance flicker (random characteristic) to analyse the frame-by-frame changes. We considered colour, surface coarseness, boundary roughness and skewness features while the quadrotor flies autonomously within clutter and congested areas. Mixed Reality system was adopted to visualise and test the proposed system in a physical/virtual environment. The results showed that the UAV could successfully detect fire and flame, fly towards and hover around it, communicate with the ground station and generate SLAM system

Analysis and Evaluation of PUF-based SoC Designs for Security Applications

This paper presents a critical analysis and statistical evaluation of two categories of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs): ring oscillator PUF and a new proposed adapted latch based PUF. The main contribution is that of measuring the properties of PUF which provide the basic information for using them in security applications. The original method involved the conceptual design of adapted latch based PUFs and ring oscillator PUFs in combination with peripheral devices in order to create an environment for experimental analysis of PUF properties. Implementation, testing and analysis of results followed. This approach has applications on high level security

A Novel ANFIS Algorithm Architecture for FPGA Implementation

This paper presents a new architecture for the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) algorithm targeting FPGA implementation. This new architecture offers higher efficiency and scalability in comparison to the existing methods. The proposed architecture is modeled and simulated using VHDL and is targeted at a Xilinx FPGA. Existing implementation architectures are also modeled and comparisons are drawn between them in terms of both performance and logic utilization. The results show that the new architecture offers a reduction in calculation cycles of around 50% in comparison to the architecture from which it’s derived. This increase in calculation speed comes with only a modest increase in logic utilization, specifically a 2.5% increase in look-up table (LUT) usage and a 1.5% increase in flip-flop usage. The new architecture also eliminates scalability issues which can arise in the existing architectures when extra input members are required

Control structure for single-phase stand-alone wind-based energy sources

This paper is analyzing the operation of a standalone wind turbine system with variable speed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) and a system for storing energy during wind speed and load variations. Energy storage devices are required for power balance and power quality in stand alone wind energy systems. Initially, the holistic model of the entire system is achieved, including the PMSG, the boost converter and the storage system. The power absorbed by the connected loads can be effectively delivered and supplied by the proposed wind turbine and energy storage systems, subject to an appropriate control method. The main purpose is to supply 230 V/50 Hz domestic appliances through a single-phase inverter. The simulation results, validated by experimental testing, show a good prediction of the electrical parameter waveforms. The control system is implemented on a dSPACE DS1103 real-time board. Furthermore, the results confirm the stability of the supply

An ANFIS-PI based boost converter control scheme

The PI algorithm has proven to be a popular and widely used control method, due to its relative simplicity and robustness. Despite this, the linear nature of the algorithm means it doesn't provide optimal control to non-linear systems. This paper presents a novel method of improving the performance of the PI controller using an ANFIS network to provide gain scheduling. This control scheme is applied to a Boost Converter circuit and simulated within the PSIM modelling environment. The simulation results indicate that using the ANFIS controller provides a fast system response with minimal errors even under dynamic operating conditions. The ANFIS controller is also shown to simplify the design flow in comparison to the popular Fuzzy-PI gain scheduling method

Simulink modeling and design of an efficient hardware-constrained FPGA-based PMSM speed controller

The aim of this paper is to present a holistic approach to modeling and FPGA implementation of a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) speed controller. The whole system is modeled in the Matlab Simulink environment. The controller is then translated to discrete time and remodeled using System Generator blocks, directly synthesizable into FPGA hardware. The algorithm is further refined and factorized to take into account hardware constraints, so as to fit into a low cost FPGA, without significantly increasing the execution time. The resulting controller is then integrated together with sensor interfaces and analysis tools and implemented into an FPGA device. Experimental results validate the controller and verify the design