Closed-Loop DC Motor Embedded Control Platform based on ARM® for Distance Learning Experiments

DC motor controlling is known to be one of the most crucial application in the Engineering world, where precise motion control is commonly found in industrial and commercial applications. Hence, learning the fundamentals of DC closed-loop motor control is beneficial for undergraduate students studying Engineering courses. However Due to the ongoing unprecedented economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the lack of access to electronic components, has become very challenging and in turn, affects implementing and testing of the theories on real prototypes. Hence In this paper, a low-cost ARM® based DC motor embedded control platform is presented so the students who are following control courses can implement their own prototype for an affordable cost using only a few common components. The closed-loop control algorithm is designed by using the PID controller, tuned the system using the classical: trial ampersand error method and tested the system responses in real-time, according to different load conditions. Moreover, ARM® based STM® 32F407G micro-controller has been used to program the controller and keil® uVision® software is used as the programming IDE. Using MATLAB® and Simulink® platforms, a comparison of the system responses with no-load, lite load and full-load conditions has been presented.