Getting started

This chapter is an orientation to the methods, concepts, hardware, and software used throughout this book. We will introduce the structure of a real-time system, the process of creating a program to control it, and the C programming language.

Our objective is to learn the fundamentals of real-time computing by implementing the digital control of a mechatronic system. As a learning platform, we will apply our growing understanding to the control of an inertially loaded motor. This electromechanical system embodies sufficient dynamic scope to allow us to explore a wide range of digital control implementation issues, beginning with the creation of a digital user interface.

We begin with an introduction to the hardware and software systems that will be used throughout our study of real-time computing. Writing programs for the target computer requires a software development system and some basic understanding of the C programming language. Therefore, the rest of the chapter will introduce the necessary concepts and tools to set up your own development system.

There is no better way to learn real-time computing than to play with the hardware and software while being introduced to the concepts that underlie the field. So we encourage you to set up the hardware and software as you progress through this introductory chapter. Like all chapters in this book, this one concludes with a lab exercise. Lab 0 will guide you through the process of writing and debugging programs to control the real-time target system.