Intelligent Control based on Fuzzy logic embedded in FPGA applied in Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs)

Abstract

This paper presents the control based on Fuzzy logic implemented in FPGA for Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs). VADs are used for the treatment of patients with Heart Failure (HF), the continuous flow of the pump assists in the vital pumping of blood to the body, but because of fixed rotation occasionally causes over-sizing the flow, resulting in decreased device life, faster battery discharge, and patient discomfort. The Intelligent Control Technique (ICT) for VAD is a system that adjusts rotation harmoniously with physiological systems, without the use of sensors, and that considers the clinical state and level of activity of the patient, allowing comfort and efficiency. The ICT was first developed in PC and acquisition systems, but this structure does not allow to embed on electronic devices, rendering the practical application in VAD impossible, to rectify that the ICT is migrating to FPGA using the graphical language program Labview® FPGA (v15, National Instruments, Austin, USA) and Matlab® (R2010b, Mathworks, Natick, USA) for project development. The validation methodology consisted in comparing the results of the control based on Fuzzy logic of the original ICT in the simulation environment in the Matlab® Fuzzy Logic Designer and the results of the Fuzzy logic program compiled in the FPGA for the same inputs. The control based on Fuzzy logic implemented in FPGA presented similar results to simulation of the ICT running in PC, which is considered a satisfactory result, since it is an indication that when being integrated with the other layers of the ICT in FPGA will present similar results to that obtained in the "in vitro" studies of the original ICT, in addition to aggregating the parallel processing of data, which makes the practical application of ICT more viable as a harmonious controller of VADs and enables it to incorporate in Health 4.0. In future works the other two layers migrated in FPGA will be integrated and validated "in vitro" studies with a VAD coupled in the Hybrid Cardiovascular Simulator System.