Evaluation of Industrial Networked Control Systems Using Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation

Abstract – The performance of advanced control algorithms implemented on networked control devices is highly dependent on the network delay. As most algorithms are not designed by taking this implementation parameter into consideration there is a need to evaluate the performance of these algorithms before commissioning them. In this work the hardware-in-the-loop simulation is proposed as a possible evaluation technique. The hardware-in-the-loop simulator is defined as the facility that consists of a computer-based simulation of the plant linked to the communication network and the actual control devices on which the algorithm will be implemented. In order to demonstrate the way of using such a facility for evaluating the performance of a control algorithm, an experimental hardware-in-the-loop simulator based on the Profibus-DP industrial network standard has been realized and the study of the LQC control of a cement milling circuit was undertaken