MASTER is the EICASLAB tools manager specifically devoted to manage the powerful features and tools that EICASLAB provides to support the designer in all the phases of the control design process.

The MASTER tool is available in the EICASLAB base.

MASTER OVERVIEW

MASTER is the core of the EICASLAB suite that manages the EICASLAB base and all the EICASLAB modules.

MASTER allows to manage the EICASLAB projects and runs, for each control design phase, suitable and powerful software tools necessary to develop, test and validate the overall control algorithms.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

By means of the Project Manager, the MASTER tool allows to perform the general operations on the EICASLAB projects such as creating, opening, saving and removing them.

Moreover, the MASTER tool automatically traces the project history by recording a set of general information such as the name of its author, its creation time and its last access time. Besides, for each project, the user can create a report containing any information related to the project itself in order to trace all the relevant changes applied, for allowing a fast recovery of a validated previous version of a project.

PROJECT SHARING AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR) PROTECTION

EICASLAB is a multi-user environment that allows an easy and friendly data and project sharing among EICASLAB users. Data sharing sometimes implies the need of protecting some parts of project for guaranteeing the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) of the users that developed them.

Data and project sharing in EICASLAB may be performed through the MASTER tool that always guarantees the data and the IPRs protection. In fact it is possible to create project archives protected with a password and/or sharing parts of projects with suitable restrictions. The highest restriction level allows other users to know only the inputs and outputs of the protected parts. In this way every user has enough information to develop its part, always having a guaranteed IPR.

CONTROL DESIGN PHASE MANAGEMENT

According to the EICAS methodology, the control design process is addressed through the following three phases:

• Modelling and Like Real-time Simulation phase, where the user shall implement the model of the real system in the EICASLAB simulation environment, conceived as a pre-organized and structured environment that provides tools specifically studied for supporting and guiding the user within the overall control development;




• Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) phase, where the engineer tests and iterates its control strategies on a single PC (RCP platform), equipped with a real-time operating system and input/output devices. The plant under control is real and the control strategy is executed in real-time directly in the RCP platform where EICASLAB offers data recording capabilities for tuning and debugging purposes;




• Target phase, where the control code developed in the previous phases is generated for the final hardware target.

MASTER runs specific tools for managing the different control design phases:

• SIMBUILDER, which helps the user in developing control algorithms and configuring the simulation environment for testing the designed control system;




• SIM, which enables like real-time simulations of the EICASLAB project and allows the evaluation of the achieved performance;




• MPI/CPO Manager, which provides model parameter identification and control parameter optimisation features for control system design;




• POST, which allows the offline analysis of the trials results;




• RCP Manager, which manages the EICASLAB Rapid Control Prototyping process;




• Slow Motion, which allows to repeat offline the experimental trials with the capability to debug step-by-step the same code that worked on field.

MASTER tool

EICASLAB TOOLS MANAGEMENT

Run SIMBUILDER for project design
For designing the control system, MASTER runs SIMBUILDER that is the tool where the user may implement the accurate model of the plant, design the control architecture, develop the control algorithms and set the scheduling constraints of all the activities. The possibility of setting the scheduling for each activity is one of the most innovative aspects provided by EICASLAB, since it allows managing complex systems based on multi-processor and multi-hierarchical control architectures.

Run the Assisted Compiling Process
MASTER integrates a specific tool that provides an Assisted Compiling Process, that carries out the following three steps:

1. automatic code generation of software functions for creating of the SIM executable file, starting from the project designed in SIMBUILDER;




2. generation of the makefile for compiling process;




3. Assisted Compiling Process, that provides full support to the user by reporting the messages displayed by the compiler.

MASTER runs the compiler selected by the user and displays a compiling report including the list of errors and warnings found in the user ANSI C code. Furthermore MASTER provides a Project Warning Window showing the inconsistencies in the graphical model implemented in the SIMBUILDER (e.g. missing connections between blocks). In this way, the user has at disposal all the information to easily find and quickly solve any raising problem.

At the successfully completion of the compiling process the SIM/RCP Manager executable file for the system simulation is created and it is ready for being run by the MASTER tool.

Run SIM for project simulation
For verifying the performance of the system designed in SIMBUILDER, MASTER runs the SIM tool that performs the simulation of the overall designed project components.

Debug SIM
The MASTER tool allows to run SIM controlled by the debugger preferred by the user, in order to debug the overall source code and easily solve bugs.

Run MPI/CPO model parameter identification and parameter control optimisation
When the MPI/CPO module is enabled, MASTER runs SIM integrated with the MPI/CPO tool that allows running a smart procedure for identifying the parameters of the plant model and/or optimising control parameters.

Run POST for post-processing analysis
MASTER runs the POST tool specifically conceived for performing the post-processing analysis of the data recorded during the like real-time simulations and the experimental trials execution.

Run RCP Manager for Rapid Control Prototyping on field
If the RCP module is enabled, the MASTER tool supports the user in managing the EICASLAB RCP on field, that is a very important and strategic control design phase for testing and iterating the control strategies on a single PC, equipped with real-time operating system and input/output devices. When the EICASLAB Rapid Control Prototyping phase is selected, MASTER allows to run the RCP Manager tool that is a tool able to manage all the steps for performing in real-time the experimental trials execution.

Run Slow Motion for repeating offline the trials performed on field
MASTER runs the Slow Motion tool, that is the powerful tool that allows to carry out,step-by-step and variable by variable, the analysis of the control software performance run during the experimental trials performed with the actual plant. The user can repeat offline the experimental trials and then debug the same code that ran in field.