Distributed arithmetic implementation of multivariable controllers for smart structural systems

Smart structural systems require the electronic control systems which are integrated into the structures to be small, light weight and power-efficient. The field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a good platform to implement such controllers. In our previous work, FPGA-based digital controllers were built and tested on a simple structural system. In order to implement multivariable controllers, the hardware resources for FPGA-based architecture need to be further reduced. Distributed arithmetic (DA) has long been proven to be a very efficient means to mechanize computations that are dominated by inner products involving constant multiplicand. The computational requirements of the smart structural controllers match this type very well. In this paper various DA structure controllers are designed and results are compared with multiply-and-accumulate structure controllers. Single- and multi-variable controllers are implemented and tested on a cantilevered beam.