Low-cost Arduino-based Hardware-In-the-Loop Platform for Simulation and Control of Dynamic Systems

This work proposes a low-cost Arduino-based methodology for simulation and control of dynamic systems. The proposed methodology allows the real-time Hardware-In-the-Loop simulation of multivariable systems and the evaluation of multivariable control techniques. In order to obtain a HIL simulation, two Arduinos are interconnected. One Arduino is used to simulate the plant, and the other is used to implement the controller. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed methodology, three multivariable dynamic systems are simulated in real-time: an RLC system, a twin rotor MIMO system, and a microgrid. A state feedback controller by using a state observer is used to implement the controller over each dynamic system. An additional I+PD control structure is also used to compare the state feedback control method. An additional software is designed to display the data in a graphical interface in real-time and to analyze and evaluate the performance of each proposed plant and controller. © 2023, International Association of Engineers. All rights reserved.