Optimized FPGA implementations of demanding PLC programs based on hardware high-level synthesis

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of a previous work by the same authors concerning the use of automated high-level synthesis tools for obtaining high-performance FPGA implementations of industrial automation and control algorithms coded as PLC programs. The proposed method is mainly targeting demanding applications requiring lots of numerical computations. High-level synthesis is based on powerful, commercial tools. Since most of these tools are not compatible with PLC development environments, custom translating software built by using standard compiler techniques, can be employed for converting PLC programs to a form that can be understood by the selected tools. Experimental results involving both fixed-point and floating point implementations of three well-known industrial control algorithms are presented.