Ninja Step - Real-time Analysis And Optimization for Stepper Motor Control

Abstract

Real-time embedded systems are an integral part of precision control applications today as they provide great flexibility in developing time critical applications that integrate software and hardware. Stepper motor control is one such application which is used in various fields where precision control is of great importance ( e.g., robotics, CNC machines). Such time critical applications which are empowered by real-time operating systems require execution time analysis and optimization to reduce latency and non-determinism introduced by the real-time kernels. This thesis presents a structured approach towards analysis and optimization of a stepper motor control application that is based on field oriented control. The control algorithm was analyzed with aim to optimize and eliminate timing related bottlenecks to improve the precision control performance. By conducting systematic measurement based real-time analysis and examining suit able optimization methods, the effects of clock frequency and usage of fixed point arithmetic in FreeRTOS kernel could be studied and reflected upon. Furthermore, a brief discussion of how hardware peripherals create limitations towards execution time reduction is presented.