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Word Length Selection Method for Controller Implementation on FPGAs Using the VHDL-2008 Fixed-Point and Floating-Point Packages

Abstract

This paper presents a word length selection method for the implementation of digital controllers in both fixed-point and floating-point hardware on FPGAs. This method uses the new types defined in the VHDL-2008 fixed-point and floating-point packages. These packages allow customizing the word length of fixed and floating point representations and shorten the design cycle simplifying the design of arithmetic operations. The method performs bit-true simulations in order to determine the word length to represent the constant coefficients and the internal signals of the digital controller while maintaining the control system specifications. A mixed-signal simulation tool is used to simulate the closed loop system as a whole in order to analyze the impact of the quantization effects and loop delays on the control system performance. The method is applied to implement a digital controller for a switching power converter. The digital circuit is implemented on an FPGA, and the simulations are experimentally verified.

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Correspondence to I Urriza.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Urriza, I., Barragán, L., Navarro, D. et al. Word Length Selection Method for Controller Implementation on FPGAs Using the VHDL-2008 Fixed-Point and Floating-Point Packages. J Embedded Systems 2010, 593264 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/593264

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/593264

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