Hours:
16 hours (4 credits)

Room:

Aula Riunioni del Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Via G. Caruso 16, Pisa - Ground Floor

To register to the course, click here

Short Abstract:

The increasing complexity of automotive and industrial systems demands innovative methods for designing and verifying control and monitoring algorithms. In this context, the Model-Based Design (MBD) approach emerges as a crucial solution to tackle these challenges. The unprecedented availability of computational power and data—both real and synthetic—opens up new possibilities for improving time-to-market and reducing validation costs. This course offers a comprehensive overview of modern control and monitoring architectures for power converters and drives, highlighting the importance of MBD.

Students will gain practical and theoretical skills to design, verify, and test advanced control and monitoring algorithms. The MBD approach, with its ability to leverage computational power and available data, provides a robust and effective methodology to address the challenges posed by the increasing complexity of modern power electronics systems.

Course Contents in brief:

• Lecture 1: Introduction to advanced control and monitoring architectures, including adaptive and predictive controllers, Kalman filters, and health state estimation algorithms. The theoretical foundations of the MBD approach and its impact on system quality and reliability will also be covered.

• Lecture 2: Utilization of algorithm verification tools through MIL/SIL (Model/Software-In-the-Loop) approaches, computational analysis and optimizations, automatic C/C++ code generation, and timed sequential logic coverage analysis. Special emphasis will be placed on code and model coverage analysis to ensure all parts of the system are adequately tested and verified.

• Lecture 3: Hands-on session using a specific toolbox for the NXP embedded platform (based on Cortex-M4, typical for automotive/automation applications) for SIL and PIL (Processor-In-the-Loop) testing for real-time verification. Techniques for designing test sequences from specifications will be addressed, ensuring the developed algorithms meet the stringent requirements of industrial applications.

• Lecture 4: Demonstration of a simple test bench using the GPIO of the NXP evaluation board to connect an inverter and a low-voltage/power synchronous motor, allowing for prototype HIL (Hardware-In-the-Loop) testing, interacting with runtime simulation. This practical example will show how MBD can be applied to create efficient and reliable control and monitoring solutions.

Schedule:

• Monday, January 20, h. 9:00-13:00
• Tuesday, January 21, h. 9:00-13:00
• Wednesday, January 22, h. 9:00-13:00
• Thursday, January 23, h. 9:00-13:00