Design of real-time and open control system for Chinese space manipulator joint based on RTX

Due to the real-time requirements of the manipulators control, the dedicated control systems are required, which has the disadvantages of the high cost, complexity and lack of flexibility. The control software cannot be modified according to the user´s expectation in the application of new algorithms or secondary development for the close framework. To overcome the above shortcomings, the paper is to construct an open architecture manipulator host control system based on the traditional Windows system by extending RTX. The host control system communicates with the manipulators by the high serial data bus. Most of the control algorithms of the manipulator run on the host control system, and the vector control of the motor is located in the joint. Experiment results indicate that the RTX system achieves the deterministic control of the manipulator with high real-time performance on the same computer, takes the advantage of rapid prototype development of software, open architecture, better compatibility and real-time performance, which improves the efficiency in the development of manipulator and the application of new control algorithms.