Shams Ullah

Dc Motor Control Using Real-time Linux: the Control is in Your Finger Tips Shams Ullah

System Control using Embedded systems or DSP kits can by no means match the user friendly nature of the computer. I am interfacing a hardware that is, in my case, a dc motor and is controlling its operational speed through the software. All the processing is done by the computer in Real Time and to introduce changes in the system's performance is just finger tips away. The use of computers in this project has acquired me the ease of control and greater accuracy. The computer is prepared to do the task by having a Red Hat Linux® with a Real-Time kernel installed. The computer ports do the necessary communication with the hardware. The source code running on the computer translates the data input into an instruction executed on the hardware. And the motor speed changes according to the duty cycle entered by the user and according to the need of the application in which the motor is being used. All one needs is some old fashioned computer, a dc motor and some motor drive circuitry to getting started. The whole set up costs a little, is efficient and user friendly. I guess automation has never been dreamed this much easy before.