Firmware design and development of MCU and Matlab-Simulink interfacing for real-time measurement, analysis and control applications

Abstract

This research describes the design and development of firmwares for microcontroller and computer (Matlab-Simulink) interfacing techniques. The firmwares are particularly designed and implemented for real-time measurement, analysis and control applications. They are developed with C language to archive better performance. A C-file of the microcontroller is compiled by the XC16 compiler to generate a HEX-file. While a C-file of the Matlab-Simulink is written as standard s-function of the Matlab and then compiled by Visual Studio 2013 using MEX command in Matlab workspace to generate a MEX-file. A Matlab-Simulink application uses the MEX-file as a core function for exchanging data with the microcontroller. Both of the firmwares are implemented based on Event-driven and Queue-driven techniques to maintain real-time ability and to guarantee that all data flowing over UART (RS-232) are transmitted, received and processed on time. To test and evaluate the firmwares, we develop 4-Channel Data Acquisition (DAQ) and 4-Channel PWM Signal Generator (PSG) running on the microcontroller. And in the Matlab-Simulink, an application for visualizing the signals of the DAQ and controlling the signals of the PSG is developed. The experimental results obviously show that the firmwares can be used for computer-based measurement, analysis and control applications properly.