Fixed-Point Fuel Rate Control System

Open Script

This example shows how to perform a floating-point and a fixed-point simulation of a fuel rate control system designed using Simulink® and Stateflow®. The controller leverages Simulink numeric types to switch easily between the floating-point and fixed-point simulation. To familiarize yourself with the fuel rate control model see Modeling a Fault-Tolerant Fuel Control System.

Open and Compile the Model

The sldemo_fuelsys model is a closed-loop system containing a "plant" and "controller". In this example, the plant is the root model and the controller is the "fuel_rate_control" subsystem. The plant is used to continuously validate the design of the controller. This plant also facilitates the conversion of floating-point to fixed-point type. Initially, the model is configured for a floating-point simulation, as is seen by the data type display on the signal lines. Let's take a look at the data types for first two levels of hierarchy.

Open sldemo_fuelsys via fxpdemo_fuelsys and compile the diagram to see see the signal data types. Initially, the controller is configured to use single precision data types.

fxpdemo_fuelsys

sldemo_fuelsys([],[],[],'compile');
sldemo_fuelsys([],[],[],'term');

View the Floating-Point Fuel Rate Control System

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control');

View the Floating-Point Airflow Calculation

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/airflow_calc');

View the Floating-Point Fuel Calculation

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/fuel_calc');

View the Floating-Point Control Logic

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/control_logic');

Now let's remove the window clutter.

close_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/airflow_calc');

close_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/fuel_calc');

close_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/control_logic');
hDemo.rt=sfroot;hDemo.m=hDemo.rt.find('-isa','Simulink.BlockDiagram');
hDemo.c=hDemo.m.find('-isa','Stateflow.Chart','-and','Name','control_logic');
hDemo.c.visible=false;

close_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control');

Switch Data Types from Floating-Point to Fixed-Point

The Fixed-Point Advisor was utilized to convert the controller from a floating-point implementation to an equivalent fixed-point implementation. See fxpdemo_fpa for details of the Fixed-Point Advisor. You can also optimize and explore the fixed-point design using the Fixed-Point Tool. See fxpdemo_feedback for details of the Fixed-Point Tool.

The plant simulates using double precision data types. As mentioned, the "fuel_rate_control" subsystem is configured such that it is easy to switch between floating-point and fixed-point data types. This is done by configuring blocks to reference Simulink numeric types in the MATLAB® workspace.

This model uses four scalings for its computations:

u8En7 (unsigned 8-bit, binary point 7 scaling)
s16En3 (signed 16-bit, binary point 3 scaling)
s16En7 (signed 16-bit, binary point 7 scaling)
s16En15 (signed 16-bit, binary point 15 scaling)

View these objects in the MATLAB® Workspace.

whos u8En7 s16En3 s16En7 s16En15

  Name         Size            Bytes  Class                   Attributes

  s16En15      1x1                91  Simulink.NumericType              
  s16En3       1x1                91  Simulink.NumericType              
  s16En7       1x1                91  Simulink.NumericType              
  u8En7        1x1                91  Simulink.NumericType

For a floating-point simulation the numeric types are set to single precision. The DataTypeMode property of the Simulink numeric object is set to use 'Single'. Alternatively, you can set them to double.

u8En7   = fixdt('single');
s16En3  = fixdt('single'); %#ok
s16En7  = fixdt('single'); %#ok
s16En15 = fixdt('single'); %#ok
disp(u8En7)

  NumericType with properties:

    DataTypeMode: 'Single'
         IsAlias: 0
       DataScope: 'Auto'
      HeaderFile: ''
     Description: ''

The model is configured to log simulation data for the top-level signals, whereby the result of a simulation is stored into workspace variable sldemo_fuelsys_output. We'll save the result of the simulation in hDemo.flt_out for later comparison with the fixed-point simulation.

set_param('sldemo_fuelsys','StopTime','8')
sim('sldemo_fuelsys')
hDemo.flt_out = sldemo_fuelsys_output;

To switch to a fixed-point simulation the Simulink numeric types are set to fixed-point values. Specifically, the DataTypeMode is set to use binary point scaling.

u8En7   = fixdt(0,8,7);
s16En3  = fixdt(1,16,3);
s16En7  = fixdt(1,16,7);
s16En15 = fixdt(1,16,15);
disp(u8En7)

  NumericType with properties:

      DataTypeMode: 'Fixed-point: binary point scaling'
        Signedness: 'Unsigned'
        WordLength: 8
    FractionLength: 7
           IsAlias: 0
         DataScope: 'Auto'
        HeaderFile: ''
       Description: ''

Rerun the simulation for the fixed-point implementation. You can see the fixed-point data types on the signals. We'll store the result of the simulation in hDemo.fxp_out.

if ~hasFixedPointDesigner()
    DAStudio.error('Simulink:fixedandfloat:FxDLicenseRequired');
end
sim('sldemo_fuelsys')
hDemo.fxp_out = sldemo_fuelsys_output;

View the Fixed-Point Fuel Rate Control System

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control');

View the Fixed-Point Airflow Calculation

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/airflow_calc');

View the Fixed-Point Fuel Calculation

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/fuel_rate_control/fuel_calc');

Compare the Floating-Point to Fixed-Point Result

Let's compare the result of the simulation for the fuel flow rate and the air fuel ratio.

figure('Tag','CloseMe');
subplot(2,1,1);
plot(hDemo.flt_out.get('fuel').Values.Time, hDemo.flt_out.get('fuel').Values.Data,'r-');
hold
plot(hDemo.fxp_out.get('fuel').Values.Time, hDemo.fxp_out.get('fuel').Values.Data,'b-');
ylabel('FuelFlowRate (g/sec)');
title('Fuel Control System: Floating-Point vs. Fixed-Point Comparison');
legend('float','fixed')
axis([0 8 .75 2.25]);
subplot(2,1,2);
plot(hDemo.flt_out.get('air_fuel_ratio').Values.Time, hDemo.flt_out.get('air_fuel_ratio').Values.Data,'r-');
hold
plot(hDemo.fxp_out.get('air_fuel_ratio').Values.Time, hDemo.fxp_out.get('air_fuel_ratio').Values.Data,'b-');
ylabel('Air/Fuel Ratio');
xlabel('Time (sec)')
legend('float','fixed','Location','SouthEast')
axis([0 8 11 16]);

Current plot held
Current plot held

Use a Flexible Data Typing Strategy

You have seen that a model can be configured to switch between floating point and fixed-point data using Simulink numeric types. Inside a closed-loop model, such as this one, care must be taken to have such flexibility. In this example, double precision data is converted to and from the plant using data type conversion blocks. On both sides of the controller, the output data type of the conversion blocks are set to Inherit: Inherit via back propagation. This allows the control system to change data type implementation without conflicting with the plant data types.

Special Considerations for Simulink Bus Signals

Also noteworthy is the configuration of the data types for the Simulink bus object used in this model: EngSensors. Individual bus element data types are specified using the same Simulink numeric objects as previously discussed. This bus has four elements.

disp(EngSensors.Elements(1))
disp(EngSensors.Elements(2))
disp(EngSensors.Elements(3))
disp(EngSensors.Elements(4))

  BusElement with properties:

              Name: 'throttle'
        Complexity: 'real'
        Dimensions: 1
          DataType: 's16En3'
               Min: []
               Max: []
    DimensionsMode: 'Fixed'
              Unit: 'deg'
       Description: ''

  BusElement with properties:

              Name: 'speed'
        Complexity: 'real'
        Dimensions: 1
          DataType: 's16En3'
               Min: []
               Max: []
    DimensionsMode: 'Fixed'
              Unit: 'rad/s'
       Description: ''

  BusElement with properties:

              Name: 'ego'
        Complexity: 'real'
        Dimensions: 1
          DataType: 's16En7'
               Min: []
               Max: []
    DimensionsMode: 'Fixed'
              Unit: 'V'
       Description: ''

  BusElement with properties:

              Name: 'map'
        Complexity: 'real'
        Dimensions: 1
          DataType: 'u8En7'
               Min: []
               Max: []
    DimensionsMode: 'Fixed'
              Unit: 'bar'
       Description: ''

View the Controller Input Conversion

Data Type Conversion blocks isolate the plant from the controller. The sample time is also converted from continuous to discrete using a Rate Transition Block.

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/To Controller')

View the Controller Output Conversion

A Data Type Conversion block isolates the controller from the plant. The sample time is also converted from discrete to continuous time using a Rate Transition Block.

open_system('sldemo_fuelsys/To Plant')

Close the model, figures and workspace variables associated with example

close_system('sldemo_fuelsys',0);
close(findobj(0,'Tag','CloseMe'));
clear hDemo

Closing Remarks

You can generate production C/C++ code using Embedded Coder®. For related fixed-point examples using sldemo_fuelsys, see

Production C/C++ code generation - Air-Fuel Ratio Control System with Stateflow Charts (Embedded Coder)
Fixed-point production C/C++ code generation - Air-Fuel Ratio Control System with Fixed-Point Data (Embedded Coder)

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