This project has the goal of developing a new family of embedded architectures optimized specifically for feed-back digital (software) controllers, with the aim of decreasing the required power by more than an order of magnitude and delivering real-time performance at levels that currently cannot be achieved from software. This is done by exploiting many kinds of redundancies peculiar to feedback controllers but that are not exploited by any current processing architecture. The work is in collaboration with on-site micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) researchers to develop practical solutions for software control in that environment. The broader impact of this work also includes the development of better architectural design metrics applicable to control system design as well as opening new engineering areas to the benefits of low-power digital control. Since much of this work can be tested in FPGA emulation, we plan to include the participation of undergraduates in the construction of multi-threaded controller software to test these ideas using tools developed for this work.
