Parker Hannifin Integrates IQAN with Simulink to Simplify Mobile Machinery Control System Development
“We were eager to get an integrated platform to market as fast as possible to simplify the design process for our customers. That was made possible by close collaboration between MathWorks consultants and our software engineers.”
Challenge
Integrate Simulink with mobile machinery design software to accelerate the development of advanced control designs
Solution
Work with MathWorks consultants to develop a custom system target in Simulink that supports the generation of production embedded code and detailed interface files for use in IQAN software
Results
- Time-to-market shortened by a year
- Technical self-sufficiency established
- Customers’ development speed increased
The IQAN-MC4x controller platform.
The Parker Hannifin IQAN® system is used by many OEMs to develop and prototype electrohydraulic systems for excavators, loaders, and other hydraulic mobile machines. The system includes high-level graphical design tools; hydraulic components such as accumulators, cylinders, motors, valves, and pumps; and control components such as joysticks, display screens, and embedded microcontrollers.
Parker Hannifin engineers recently worked with MathWorks consultants to create a custom system target that enables Parker customers to model advanced control designs with MATLAB® and Simulink® and incorporate them into Parker IQAN software for system-level simulation and hardware deployment.
“With this new integration, application engineers can design advanced control algorithms and filters in Simulink and combine them with IQAN components that are safety certified, tested, and verified,” says Christer Sahlberg, R&D manager at Parker Hannifin. “As a result, our customers are able to introduce new features faster and stay ahead of their competition.”
Challenge
Parker was fielding a growing number of requests from customers who wanted to implement control systems that required advanced mathematical operations and functions. Often these operations and functions were too complex to be easily implemented with IQAN design tools. At the same time, the company recognized that its customers were increasingly using MATLAB and Simulink in their design and development processes.
Parker wanted to complete the integration as quickly as possible to meet customer demand, but recognized that it would take a long time for their team to do the work in-house.
Solution
Parker engaged MathWorks Consulting Services to accelerate the integration of IQAN and Simulink.
A team of Parker engineers and MathWorks consultants created a custom system target file for use with Embedded Coder®. When code is generated from a Simulink model using this system target file, Embedded Coder produces an XML interface description file used by IQAN and embedded code for deployment on the Infineon® AURIX™ microcontrollers in IQAN master control modules.
In a typical workflow, Parker customers use Simulink and IQAN products together. Working in Simulink, engineers model and simulate filters and control designs for specific mobile machine functions—for example, an oscillation damping controller for a crane.
Before generating code, they use Simulink Check™ to ensure that the design meets industry standards and guidelines. Next, they use Embedded Coder with the custom system target file to generate embedded code and interface files, which are then imported into IQAN.
Engineers can then insert their Simulink oscillation damping component as a single block within a larger IQAN model that controls the basic crane movement. Within IQAN, they can navigate the Simulink model, measure Simulink test points, and run system-level simulations.
Once the design is verified via simulation, the engineers deploy the generated code to IQAN-MC4x control modules, which contain Infineon microcontrollers.
Results
- Time-to-market shortened by a year. “We had limited resources to commit to this project, so the help we received from MathWorks Consulting Services was instrumental in our ability to take a big step forward very fast,” says Sahlberg. “Without them it would likely have taken us another year to complete the project, if it was possible at all.”
- Technical self-sufficiency established. “It was crucial for us to be able to support our solution without continued outside assistance,” notes Johan Lidén, IQAN product manager at Parker. “At the end of the project, as the consultants stepped back, we were able to continue the implementation ourselves because of the knowledge we had acquired from them.”
- Customers’ development speed increased. “We’ve heard from our customers that the integration of Simulink with IQAN is removing bottlenecks in the development of control software and deployment to hardware,” says Sahlberg. “As a result, they are able to deliver their products much faster than before.”
