A run-time reconfigurable FPGA-based drive controller for electrical drive systems

Field programmable gate arrays provide an excellent opportunity to implement drive control functionalities in a highly flexible environment. This paper presents the FPGA-based implementation of a partially reconfigurable drive control system for DC motors. The controller supports the run-time reconfiguration of control functions and algorithms directly in hardware and meets hard real-time conditions. Features of the drive control system include test functions, a proportional plus integral closed-loop speed control, a PWM output and a USB 2.0 interface for communication purposes. In addition, the drive controller comprises a fast on-chip reconfiguration solution using an on-chip configuration interface (ICAP) and direct memory access. A Xilinx Virtex-II FPGA was used for this implementation.