System-level design method for control systems with hardware-implemented interrupt handler

In this paper, we propose a system-level design method for control systems that enables the development of Hardware-implemented interrupt handler. The increasing complexity of control systems has led to a rise in the frequency of interrupts. As a result, the processor load increases, leading to a deterioration in the latency of interrupt processing. To solve these problems, we require dedicated hardware that is activated by an interrupt and can directly access devices during its processing. The proposed method enables control systems with the above dedicated hardware to be developed using a model that abstracts an interrupt, interrupt processing, and communication between the control processing and devices. We have developed a system-level design tool which automatically generates the target implementation from the model. Case studies on a motor control system show that the proposed method reduces the processor load, improves the latency of the interrupt processing, and enables the design space exploration for the control system.