Digital Signal Processors in Modern Control Systems

Abstract Development of improved "theories" has been an on-going activity in the control systems field, and some truly outstanding methods have been developed. Meanwhile, low-cost, improved capability, integrated circuit-based processors have also been developed. These parallel developments offer an unprecedented opportunity for practical implementation of advanced control techniques. Digital signal processors have specialized high speed architectures and tailored instruction sets which execute "signal-processing" type operations in a single machine cycle; DSPs are therefore ideal for modern control algorithms. This paper overviews DSPs, reviews their key features, and outlines procedures for using DSPs in control applications.