A Multiprocessor Architecture for Intelligent Control of Standby Electrical Power Generating Systems

This paper presents a multiprocessor control system for standby power supply applications. The system is responsible to initiate a standby generator in order to provide power supply to a target load in case of mains supply failure. Typical applications are standby generators at bank offices, hospital buildings, airport premises and mobile telephony base stations. The system possesses a great concurrency of individual processes and handles a large number of input and output signals. The application requirements introduce specific constraints upon system operation. The proposed design is based on a multiprocessor architecture that incorporates two DSPs, two microcontrollers and programmable logic. The paper focuses on the functional decomposition of the overall system into individual modules and their efficient mapping into a system-level architecture that guarantees the critical requirements of the application.