Processor board from dSPACE boosts performance

20th June 2014

dSPACE Ltd

Siobhan O'Gorman

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dSPACE has introduced a new processor board for real-time systems, the DS1007 PPC Processor Board. The DS1007 handles demanding computing requirements for developing control systems for complex modern applications. Control engineers developing complex applications - electric drives, autonomous systems and vehicles, active noise suppression, etc. - require high computation power and very fast I/O access. These applications require a high-speed, closed-loop performance that is more demanding than ever before.

With its PowerPC architecture based on the dual-core, 2 GHz processor QorlQ P5020 by Freescale, the DS1007 meets the requirements for high computing power and low-latency I/O access. The processor features a parallel interface between the I/O peripherals and computing cores that allows fast I/O access with very low latencies. Because the latency for even a single I/O access is critical for overall performance in control engineering, this processor architecture delivers significant advantages over x86 architectures, where I/O access is performed as serial communication via the PCI Express bus. The parallel I/O access of the QorlQ processor results in higher maximum closed-loop sampling rates despite less computing power.

Graphical Model Configuration
Simulink models are configured via the graphical user interface provided by dSPACE'S Real-Time Interface for Multiprocessor Systems. This makes it easy for developers to partition and distribute complex control algorithm models onto the two processor cores for optimal performance. It also simplifies data transfer between parts of the application distributed across the cores. Developers can therefore focus on their control algorithm development tasks rather than on managing computation complexity, which speeds up their product development work with complex systems.

Ethernet and USB Interface
The Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the DS1007 board enable high-speed data transfer with the host PC and other Ethernet-based devices. High-speed Ethernet is now being used for sensor and bus communication and is crucial for the latest applications, such as camera-based lane departure warning systems in the automotive industry. The DS1007 also comes with a USB interface for long-term data acquisition via a USB interface. With a growing number and different types of sensors such as camera, radar and lidar, the amount of data to be acquired is increasing dramatically. A high-speed and high-volume data acquisition capability is therefore a must for control engineering platforms.