Resource-Aware Control - Model-Based Co-Engineering of Control Algorithms and Real-Time Systems

摘要

The underlying theories of both control engineering and real-time systems engineering assume idealized system abstractions that mutually neglect central aspects of the other discipline. Control engineering theory, on the one hand, usually assumes jitter free sampling and constant input-output latencies disregarding complex real-world timing effects. Real-time engineering theory, on the other hand, uses abstract performance models that neglect the functional behavior, and derives worst-case situations that have little expressiveness for control functionalities in physically dominated automotive systems. As a consequence, there is a lot of potential for a systematic co-engineering between both disciplines, increasing design efficiency and confidence. We have taken a standard control-engineering tool, Simulink, and combined it with state-of-the-art real-time system design and analysis tools, SymTA/S and TraceAnalyzer from Symtavision. We define a timing-aware control design workflow that enables the control engineer to consider actual target timing during controller layout and provides the system integrator with additional properties to exploit the design freedom during scheduling design and target integration. The workflow is enabled through a Simulink and SymTA/S toolbox which is applied to a realistic (active suspension) application. This shows that the approach allows uncovering integration problems long before the actual implementation is complete or the software is integrated - leaving the opportunity for efficient and goal-oriented planning of countermeasures.