A Model-Based SoC FPGA Design Approach for Implementing Industrial High-Speed and Low-Latency Green Energy Control Applications

In this paper, a novel SoC FPGA based approach is proposed that accelerates the development of energy control applications for decentralized converter nodes that are controlled by one central unit. In this particular use case, Gigabit Ethernet in combination with FPGA based protocol processing is used for high-speed and low-latency communication between distributed units. The protocol processing is embedded within an MPSoC platform environment executing high-level tasks via a multicore CPU and real-time control within the logic part of the FPGA. For application specific controller development, the complete platform is integrated into MATLAB®/Simulink® by using Embedded Coder™ and HDL Coder™ in order to hide FPGA details from the control algorithm designers. The proposed concept is evaluated for a real-world wind power plant control topology supporting control frequencies of up to 640 kHz. As a main benefit, the concept can be used for the development of new control applications with highest demands on control precision by reducing time-to-market with a real-world proven FPGA-based platform concept.