A powered wheelchair controller based on master-slave control architecture

In this paper, the authors present the new architecture for develop a controller and algorithm for a powered wheelchair that uses brushless DC motors. The pliant and stable traveling of the wheelchair needs much calculation and signal processing toward the input device and the output devices. The MCU or the DSP has a duty to do that. In this case, it demands much calculation to process the joystick signal, to generate suitable PWM pulses (if necessary) and to support diverse functions. If the controller and the two wheels have their own processor chip, it is possible to separate the work for the driving of the wheelchair. The wheelchair system, which has a controller as a master and a wheel as a slave, has a protocol. The controller as a master sends a speed command to the wheel, and the wheel as a slave sends its own wheel information to the controller. This master-slave architecture is for a hardware system to realize a high-quality electric wheelchair and offers flexibility to expand its functionality. This paper shows a controller that is made by the suggested hardware architecture, control method and data processing technique.