Field-programmable Gate Array Implementation for High-speed, High-bandwidth Feedforward Control

Advanced feedforward control techniques have been successfully demonstrated in applications such as highspeed nanopositioning and scanning probe microscopy. In areas such as manufacturing and robotic manipulation, advanced feedforward control is essential to achieve superior performance. Practical implementation of these advanced control techniques in high-speed, high-bandwidth motion control, however, tends to be challenged by hardware limitations, as the conventional microprocessor-based data acquisition systems fail to provide a fast enough round-loop sampling frequency to execute these algorithms. Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) possesses great potential to address this challenge as FPGA does not only provide the hardware flexibility in realizing various controller architectures, but also enable ultra-high round-loop sampling rate to implement advanced control techniques for high-speed, high-bandwidth systems. However, applications of FPGAs by the control community are still rather limited due to factors including unawareness of the advantages of FPGAs or hesitation caused by the technical challenges involved in FPGA-based controller implementations. Therefore, we would like to, through this workshop, bridge the recent advances in advanced control techniques and their implementations in practical applications using FPGA. We will provide a step-by-step tutorial on FPGA for control applications, and stimulate and encourage explorations of advanced feedforward control and FPGA implementations to tackle challenges in emerging areas including biomedical and probe-based microscopy applications. In particular, we will first provide a brief introduction on recent advances in feedforward control techniques, then give a basic tutorial on FPGA and its use in controller design and implementation; second, we will illustrate and demonstrate the applications of FPGA in high-speed motion control using broadband nanomechanical quantification and ultra-high-speed AFM imaging as two examples; and finally, we will conclude the workshop through discussions of the potential and challenges of using FPGAs in emerging applications.