Integrated control and software design for complex mechatronic systems

Promising product innovations in modern mechanical engineering are based on the close interaction of mechanical engineering, electrics / electronics as well as control and software technology. This is what the term mechatronics stands for. Such systems are characterized on the one hand by the fact that they can react flexibly to changes in the environment, and on the other hand that they consist of several independent sub-systems that coordinate with each other in order to achieve higher-level goals. On the one hand, this becomes clear through the increased proportions of the control components - it is primarily concerned with controlled movement behavior. On the other hand, this is made clear by the increasing proportions of software components which, among other things, have to meet the challenges of communication, especially those in real time. Although there are mutual dependencies between the two disciplines, today's design of control and software technology is highly sequential: at the beginning, the continuous components (e.g. controller) are implemented by the control technology. Only then does the software technology work out the discrete-event components (e.g. controller switchover). In this contribution an approach is presented, on the basis of which the integrated design of control and software technology becomes possible. The procedure is illustrated using a case study (cooperating delta robots). Only then does the software technology work out the discrete-event components (e.g. controller switchover). In this contribution an approach is presented, on the basis of which the integrated design of control and software technology becomes possible. The procedure is illustrated using a case study (cooperating delta robots). Only then does the software technology work out the discrete-event components (e.g. controller switchover). In this contribution an approach is presented, on the basis of which the integrated design of control and software technology becomes possible. The procedure is illustrated using a case study (cooperating delta robots).