Prerequisites: EICASLAB base, ACG module
RCP (Rapid Control Prototyping) module is the feature that generates the complementary ANSI-C source code that, together with the Apllication Software (AS) generated by the ACG module, provides a Multi-core and Multi-threading real-time application able to perform a complete RCP test by using a PC with a Linux Real-Time Operative System directly connected to the plant to be controlled. At the moment Linux RTAI and Linux with RT-Preempt patch are supported.
Therefore the RCP module provides the Basic Software (BS), target dependent, that implements a Real-Time Scheduler able to schedule activities of each processor, to manage the processor clock, the I/O interrupts etc…
    
Thanks to the applied multi-threading and multi-core programming techniques, the user can configure a commercial multi-core PC platform in order to emulate the final target architecture and carry out the RCP trials on field.
To properly configure the Rapid Control Prototyping feature and to best exploit the multi-core and multi-threading features, the EICASLAB provided with the RCP module, allows to:
  • assign one or more control functions to a thread;
  • allocate each thread to the specified core of the PC platform;
  • define for each thread a suitable priority;
  • specify for each thread the scheduling policy through which it is managed by the RTOS.
In order to perform a complete and flexible Rapid Control Prototyping test, EICASLAB offers the possibility to switch among the so called "Operative Modes":
  • RCP on field
  • Slow Motion RCP
  • SIM RCP
The “RCP on field” is the operating mode that allows carrying out the Rapid Control Prototyping activities where the plant under control is real and the control strategy is executed in real-time directly in an host computer.
In this mode the real Plant is connected with the PC through real-time interfaces directly programmable into EICASLAB. The control algorithms are scheduled and their relative timing is assured by the Real-Time OS, where advanced multi-threading and multi-core programming concepts are applied.
In order to perform the RCP trial, a powerful tool, called RCP Manager, provides a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows:
  • pilot the plant;
  • perform Real Time Recording for POST Processing in order to record on the PC disk all the data that then have to be post-analysed through the EICASLAB POST tool;
  • perform Real Time Recording for Slow Motion in order to off-line repeat the experimental trials starting from the recorded data through theSlow-Motion feature available in EICASLAB.
  • visualize on the PC screen the dynamic behaviour of the variables of your own interest;
  • command and modify in real-time some parameters of your Application Software;
  • switch, during the real-time execution, among predefined scheduling configurations. In these pre-set configurations, the user can enable or disable single control functions associated to threads or entire threads with all the related control functions.
   
The “Slow Motion RCP” Operative mode allows to debug and analyse the performance of the same control code that run during the RCP trials. Slow Motion consists in recording every inputs of the platform during the trial and then to re-execute, in the EICASLAB simulation environment, the whole trial offline starting from the recorded experimental data.
  
  
The “SIM RCP” Operative Mode makes very easy switching from real-time to the simulation environment in order to perform further analysis with the same control algorithms experimented on field.
The SIM RCP tool is able to use the overall control configuration developed and tested on field during the RCP phase, for further analysis in the EICASLAB simulation environment.