Mechatronic System Design Process
A Model-Based Design Approach from Concept to Working System
The top two drivers in industry today for improving development processes are shorter productdevelopment schedules and increased customer demand for better- performing products. As
engineering systems are becoming ever more multidisciplinary and complex, can these two goals
be achieved at the same time? Challenges inhibiting mechatronic product development fall into
two categories: the multi-domain nature of the complete system and integration of the domains,
and finding errors early in the development cycle and testing before hardware is available. Once
a system is in development, correcting a problem costs 10 times as much as fixing the same
problem in concept. If the system has been released, it costs 100 times as much.
System Design
and Performance
Specifications
Mechatronic System
Design Process
START
HERE
Simplifying
Assumptions
System
Design
Concept
Concept
Physical
Model
Engineering
Judgment
Past
Experience &
Experiments
no
Expected
Component
and OpenLoop System
Response
Identify
Model
Parameters
Concept
Mathematical
Model
Solve Equations:
Analytical &
Numerical
Re-evaluate
Physical Model
Assumptions &
Parameters
Predicted
Open-Loop
System
Response
Agreement?
yes
Past
Experience &
Experiments
Control System
Design
no
Expected
Closed-Loop
System
Response
Design &
Simulate
Re-evaluate
Predicted
Closed-Loop
System
Response
Agreement?
yes
Improve System Design:
Parameters and/or
Configuration / Concept
no
Is predicted
response acceptable
with respect to
specifications?
Improve Control Design:
Feedback, Feedforward,
Observers, Filters
no
yes
Build and Test Physical System
Check That System Meets Specifications
Evaluate, Iterate, and Improve As Needed
Simulation World
Real World
Apply
Laws of Nature
The Mechatronic System Design Process addresses these challenges. Through system modeling
and simulation, it facilitates: understanding the behavior of the proposed system concept;
optimizing the system design parameters; developing optimal control algorithms, both local and
supervisory; testing control algorithms under various scenarios ; and qualifying the production
controller with a simulated version of the plant running in real time (hardware-in-the-loop
testing), before connecting it to the real plant.
The Mechatronic System Design Process provides an environment that is rich with numerical
and graphical analysis and design tools that stimulate innovation and cooperation within design
teams. It aims to reduce the risk of not meeting the functional requirements by enabling early
and continuous verification throughout the entire design workflow.
Kevin Craig
June 2011