Dual-processor controller with vehicle suspension applications

A dual-processor controller suitable for computation-intensive control and signal-processing algorithms is described. The controller is built around a general-purpose microcontroller and a digital signal processor (DSP). The main goal of the design is efficient computation of mathematically oriented algorithms with the ability to interface with sensors and actuators. The effectiveness of controllers incorporating DSP chips is demonstrated with two applications of suspension-sensor data frequency-domain analysis and state estimation of a quarter-car suspension test rig