The Electromechanical Arcade

Alvaro E. Gil, Nicanor Quijano, and Kevin M. Passino

Dept. Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Ohio State University
2015 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210

April 5, 2004

Abstract
This document provides a general guide for students who want to implement real-time
scheduling strategies for the electromechanical arcade. This inexpensive experiment is designed
to be a testbed for the implementation and evaluation of networked decentralized scheduling
strategies. In this document, we describe the apparatus, its main components, the challenges
that we need to face, and we show how to interface dSPACE with the experiment.

Contents
1 Introduction 2

2 dSPACE: Hardware and Software 2

3 Experimental Apparatus and Challenges 2

3.1 Experiment Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3 Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.4 Lasers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.4.1 Lasers in Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.4.2 Lasers in Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.5 Photodetectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.5.1 Photodetectors in Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.5.2 Photodetectors in Guns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.6 Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.7 Power Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.8 Travel Times Between Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.9 Simulink Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.9.1 Initialization and Control Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.9.2 PID Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.9.3 Detection and Shooting at Targets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.9.4 Shot Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.10 Steps to Start and Stop the Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.10.1 How to Start the Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.10.2 How to Stop the Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

1
1 Introduction
The ubiquitous presence of networked computing is significantly impacting the field of control
systems. There are already many “distributed control systems” (DCS) in industry and significant
current research on networked multi-agent systems. These networked control systems are typically
decentralized, large-scale, may be hierarchical, and are often quite complicated from a dynamical
systems perspective. They typically have a blend of significant nonlinearities, nondeterministic
behavior, random delays, constrained information flow (e.g., only via the topology defined by
the communication network), high-dimensionality, etc. Since their main purpose is control of
a dynamical system they contain many (if not all) of the challenges typically found in control
systems (e.g., disturbance rejection, tracking, robustness), and additional challenges due to the
presence of a computer network that synergistically interacts with the dynamical system. They
represent a significant departure from typical, say classical DC motor control or inverted pendulum
control problems, and demand many of the same tools/skills and more such as expertise in software
engineering, object-oriented programming, or real-time operating systems. Moreover, they demand
that more attention be given to a number of other nontraditional control objectives, including
dynamic resource allocation, scheduling of tasks, and control over large networks, than in the past.
The electromechanical arcade was designed to provide a testbed for distributed networked
scheduling strategies. Compared to past experiments, it provides opportunities to study coop-
eration between two control systems.

2 dSPACE: Hardware and Software

We use dSPACE hardware and software for the arcade experiment. The dSPACE software is based
on Matlab/Simulink. To develop the block diagrams in Simulink for the arcade we use several
processes that (i) acquire the data and store this information in some global variables, (ii) make
decisions concerning the control, and (iii) update the digital/analog outputs.
In the combined dSPACE-Matlab package we have Simulink and the graphical user interface
(GUI) that is provided in dSPACE. In Simulink we develop the controller and all the necessary
functions to run the experiment. Once we have the code, that they call the “model,” we compile
it and following some steps that are transparent to the user, we obtain a file that will run the
code in real time, and provide the ability to set up a user interface. This GUI in dSPACE can be
viewed as a diagnostic tool, since we can change some variables, and we can see in real time some
of the variables defined by the user in the model. The students can find a tutorial introduction
to dSPACE at http://www.ece.osu.edu/˜passino/dSPACEtutorial.doc.pdf. Below, we describe the
apparatus, highlight the challenges it presents, and we explain the main Simulink blocks that can
be used to implement complex control strategies.

3 Experimental Apparatus and Challenges

This experiment is composed of two main devices: guns and targets as shown in Figure 1. Each
of them is provided with a laser and a photodetector. There are in total eight “pop-up” targets
that “appear” (indicated by its laser being on) and “disappear” (laser off) at frequencies that are
independent of each other (driven by simple timing circuits that can be adjusted by hand to provide
different frequencies). The guns can detect a target appearance if its is pointed directly at it (it has
no “peripheral vision”) via a photodetector mounted on the gun. The two guns are each mounted
on the shaft of a motor. Each of these motors has a quadrature encoder that provides the current

2
angular position of the motor. We use a PID controller to point any gun to the target that needs
to be shot and these PID loops are well tuned so their performance will not impact the scheduling
strategies. The photodetectors of all targets (8 digital inputs), the laser and photodetector of each
gun (2 digital inputs and 2 digital outputs), the motor encoder, the output of each PID controller
(1 analog output each) are connected to one DS1104 dSPACE card. All the lasers located at the

Laser 2
Laser 1 of target 4
of target 4 Guns firing targets

Target 1 Photodetector
of target 7

Motion control
amplifier for
motor 1 Laser
of gun 2
Photodetector
Motion control of gun 1
Gun 1 Motor 1 Gun 2 amplifier for
Motor 2
motor 2

Figure 1: Electromechanical arcade experiment.

targets point to the gun photodetector and if one gun is pointing to a target when it appears, this
gun can shoot (turn its laser on) at that target, which triggers the corresponding photodetector of
the shot target. When the photodetector of a target is triggered, the gun considers that specific
target as “hit” (it gets a point for hitting it) and then the gun will look for the appearance of
another target (the target depends on the scheduling strategies implemented by the students). The
analogy with arcade games should be clear.
We assume that the guns do not know any information about the rate of appearance of all
targets (but one could invent strategies for estimating appearance sequences); however, the guns
do know a priori the position of all targets, and the guns can communicate to each other their
decisions about the targets that they are currently processing or pursuing. The challenges for this
experiment are as follows:
1. To schedule in real-time a sequence of shootings so as to maximize the number of points
the team gets. Since target detecting and shooting requires movement of the guns a good
schedule will typically minimize the motion of the guns in maximizing point gain. Feedback
is required to overcome, for instance, uncertainty about when targets appear (i.e., open-loop
precomputed schedules will not be effective).
2. To cooperatively schedule the shooting of the guns in the presence of an imperfect communi-
cation network that allows communication between the two guns. While the network could
be the internet and a computer could be dedicated to each gun it can also be simulated within
one computer. Communication imperfections such as random but bounded delays, bandwidth
constraints or message misordering could be considered.
We consider then an “environment” that is highly uncertain (e.g., uncertain target appearance
times) and where we have imperfect communications that make it difficult for the two guns to

3
coordinate their actions. Due to the presence of so much uncertainty it is generally not possible
to accurately predict far into the future, and hence generally not useful to employ optimization
approaches to develop long sequences of planned operations either off- or on-line. Note that this
decentralized scheduling problem can be thought of as a type of resource allocation strategy. We
have implemented in the same computer a routine that simulates a communication network between
the two guns where random but bounded communication delays can be generated every time the
two guns need to communicate to each other.

3.1 Experiment Layout

The housing of the experiment contains all devices and encloses the wiring. The base and sides
of the housing are constructed out of chipboard and have dimensions of 17.25 × 9 × 6.5 inches.
A thin layer of Plexiglas is used as a lid to make the circuitry of the experiment visible from the
top. Figure 2 shows the location of the circuitry used in the experiment, which is grouped in parts
designated by the letters A, B, C, and D in the figure.

Circuitry Circuitry
A B

Circuitry Circuitry
C D

Figure 2: Circuitry of electromechanical arcade experiment.

3.2 Guns
There are two guns in the experiment. Each gun is mounted on the shaft of a motor and provided
with one laser (Radio Shack # 277-1101) and one photodetector (Radio Shack # 276-1657). A
fabric composite material is used for the guns which includes drilled holes to the size of the shaft
that keeps the guns in place with setscrews having a rubber tip to prevent movement and damage to
the shaft. Two holes were drilled through the top in order to fit the laser and detector in a manner
that two targets lasers would be unable to shoot at each individual gun detector at the same time.
It also allowed the positions of the laser and detector to remain unchanged with respect to the
horizontal axis. The vertical position can be altered with the set screws upon initial calibration.

Precautions: There are several precautions that must be taken before running the experiment.
First, the fabric composite material that contains the guns must be mounted on the shaft of the

4
motors after the program is running in the DS1104 card; otherwise, the motor will move in a rapid
manner when the run button is hit in the GUI. This could cause damage to the wiring of the laser
and photodetectors of the guns. Second, if the fabric composite material is already mounted on
the motors and you want to compile the Simulink program again, then you have to take out the
fabric composite material first before compiling the program; otherwise, the wiring could also be
damaged.

3.3 Targets
The targets consist of eight photodetectors and sixteen lasers (two lasers per target). Black plastic
boxes were screwed into the Plexiglas in an arc shape so that each target is at a significantly
different angle to the motor. Holes were made in the black boxes to insert the photodetectors
while the lasers were fastened to the top of the black boxes at angles that were positioned to shoot
directly at its corresponding gun detector.

3.4 Lasers
As mentioned above, lasers are present in the targets and guns. The frequency and duty cycle
of the target lasers are generated by mean of timers. The on-off gun laser signal is generated in
dSPACE.

3.4.1 Lasers in Targets

The LM555 timer sets up the frequency and duration of the target lasers. Figure 3(a) shows the
LM555 circuit diagram while Figure 3(b) shows its circuit timing diagram. Both the frequency
f and duty cycle Dcyc can be manually adjusted by changing the parameters in the following
equations
1.44 1
f= =
(RA + 2RB )C t1 + t2
RB t1
Dcyc = =
RA + 2RB t1 + t2
The output of the LM555 timers is connected to the positive terminal of the lasers as shown in
Figure 4. Table 1 shows the key components found in the LM555 timer for each target.

3.4.2 Lasers in Guns

The lasers connected to the motors are controlled by an on-off signal generated in dSPACE. These
outputs can be located at sub-D connector P1B-11 and P1B-44 for motors 1 and 2 respectively.
Figure 5 shows the connections between dSPACE and the gun laser drivers DS2003.

3.5 Photodetectors
These devices transform the light coming from the lasers to voltage signals by using voltage dividers.
When the light intake is low, the voltage divider outputs a high value that is converted by the
dSPACE card to 1. When the light intake is high, the voltage divider outputs a low value that is
converted to 0.

5
 5V

Ra

7 3
DSCHG OUT Output
Rb 5
4 CV
RST U1
6
THR LM555
2
TRG

GND
5V
8 VCC
C

1
0.01u

a. Circuit connection

Volts
t1 t1

t2
time (sec.)
b. Waveform

Figure 3: LM555 circuit and timing diagram.

3.5.1 Photodetectors in Targets

The dSPACE digital inputs used to monitor the status of the target photodetectors 1-8, as well as
the circuitry associated with the photodetectors, are shown in Figure 6. All these signals are used
by the dPSACE program in order to detect whether a target has been shot by any gun.

3.5.2 Photodetectors in Guns

The dSPACE digital inputs used to monitor the status of gun photodetectors 1 and 2 in the sub-D
connector are P1A-11 and P1A-44, respectively. Figure 7 shows all these connections. These signals
are used by the dSPACE program in order to detect the appearance of a target when either gun is
current pointing at it.

3.6 Motors
Two inner rotor type 4 pole servo motors (Shinano Kenshi # LA052-040E4N02) are attached to
the base of the housing using four screws per motor. The two motors are centered ten inches apart,
allowing equal spacing for shooting and each of them is provided with an encoder. The angular
position of the motors is obtained from its built-in encoder, which has a resolution of 500 pulses
per revolution. The specifications of both the motor and the encoder are shown in Tables 2 and 3

6
 5V 5V

3.3k 3k

7 3 7 3
DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 1 DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 8
3.3k 5 22k 5
4 CV 4 CV
RST U1 RST U8
6 6
THR LM555 THR LM555
2 2
TRG TRG

GND

GND
5V 5V
8 VCC 8 VCC

0.47m 0.47m

1
0.01u 0.01u

5V 5V

10k 15k

7 3 7 3
DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 2 DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 7
6.8k 5 15k 5
4 CV 4 CV
U2 U7
6 RST 6 RST
THR LM555 THR LM555
2 2
TRG TRG
GND

GND
5V 5V
8 VCC 8 VCC

0.47m 0.47m
1

1
0.01u 0.01u

5V 5V

3.3k 15k

7 3 7 3
DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 3 DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 6
3.3k 5 15k 5
4 CV 4 CV
U3 U6
6 RST 6 RST
THR LM555 THR LM555
2 2
TRG TRG
GND

GND
5V 5V
8 VCC 8 VCC

0.47m 0.47m
1

1
0.01u 0.01u

5V 5V

22k 15k

7 3 7 3
DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 4 DSCHG OUT To Target's Laser 5
6.8k 5 15k 5
4 CV 4 CV
RST U4 RST U5
6 6
THR LM555 THR LM555
2 2
TRG TRG
GND

GND

5V 5V
8 VCC 8 VCC

0.47m 0.47m
1

0.01u 0.01u

Circuitry A Circuitry B

Figure 4: Connection among LM555 timers and photodetector lasers.

respectively. The motors are driven by the Advanced Motion Controls amplifiers (BE12A6) which
supply a 3-phase power to the motors. The amplifier specifications are shown in Table 4.
The difference between the angular position obtained from the encoder and the setpoint is used
as the contoller’s input. We use PID controllers to point each gun to the desired target. The
PID output of motors 1 and 2 can be found in the dSPACE sub-D connector P1A-31 and P1B-31

7
 Table 1: Components of the LM555 timers.

Target RA (kΩ) RB (kΩ) C(µF ) P eriod(sec.) DutyCycle(%)

1 3.3 3.3 470 3.22 33.33

2 10 6.8 470 7.69 28.31
3 3.3 3.3 470 3.22 33.33
4 22 6.8 470 11.60 19.10
5 15 15 470 14.66 33.33
6 15 15 470 14.66 33.33
7 15 15 470 14.66 33.33
8 3.3 22 470 15.41 46.51

Table 2: Motor specifications.

Rated Power (W) 40

Rated Speed (rpm) 3000
Rated Voltage (Vdc) 75
Instantaneous Max. Torque (N x cm) 38.2
Max. Speed (rpm) 5000
Weight (Kgf) 0.6

Table 3: Encoder specifications.

Power Supply Voltage (Vdc) 5

Consumption Current (mA) 100
Resolution (pulse/rotation) 500
Operating Temperature (o C) 0-40

Table 4: Advanced Motion Control amplifier specifications.

Power Supply Voltage (Vdc) 20-60

Peak Current (A, 2 sec. max.) ± 12
Max. continuous current (A) ±6
Power Dissipation (W) 10
Size (inches) 5.09 × 2.98 × 0.99
Weight (oz.) 10

8
 5V

1
2
U1 Gun's Laser 1
DS2003
1 16
From P1B 11 dSPACE 2 INA OUTA 15
3 INB OUTB 14 5V
4 INC OUTC 13
From P1B 44 dSPACE IND OUTD
5 12
6 INE OUTE 11
7 INF OUTF 10 1
ING OUTG 2

GND
9
COM Gun's Laser 2

To P1A 1, P1B 1 dSPACE

8
Circuitry D

Figure 5: Connection between dSPACE and gun laser drivers.

5V 5V 5V
5V

27k 27k
27k 27k

27k 27k 27k

27k

P1B 26 dSPACE P1A 26 dSPACE

P1B 10 dSPACE P1A 10 dSPACE

Photodetector 1 Photodetector 2
Photodetector 3 Photodetecor 4

5V 5V 5V 5V

27k 27k 27k 27k

27k 27k 27k 27k

P1B 43 dSPACE P1A 43 dSPACE P1B 27 dSPACE P1A 27 dSPACE

Photoresistor 5 Photoresistor 6
Photoresistor 7 Photodetector 8

Circuitry C

Figure 6: Connection between dSPACE digital input and photodetector circuit.

respectively. These two analog outputs are connected to pins 4 and 5 of the connector P1 of the
Advanced Motion Control amplifiers whose outputs are connected to the coils of the motors 1 and

9
 5V 5V

27k 27k

27k 27k

P1A 11 dSPACE P1A 44 dSPACE

Gun Photodetector 1 Gun Photodetector 2

Circuitry D
Figure 7: Connection between dSPACE and gun photodetectors.

2. Figures 8 and 9 shows all the connections among the encoder, motor, and dSPACE hardware
for guns 1 and 2 respectively.

Connector P1
1
2
Shield Cable of Encoder 1
3
4
P1A 31 dSPACE
5
P1A 25 dSPACE (GND)
6
SIG. A Encoder Output 1 & Encoder Input P1A 24 dSPACE (ENC_SETUP)
7
SIG. B Encoder Output 1 & Encoder Input P1A 41 dSPACE
8 5V (Encoder 1)
9
10
11
12
SIG. C1 Encoder Output 1
13
SIG. C2 Encoder Output 1
14 SIG. C3 Encoder Output 1
15
16
1M Black Wire Motor Output 1
2M
White Wire Motor Output 1 36V
3M Red Wire Motor Output 1
4M
5M

Connector P2

Adv anced Motion Control 1

Figure 8: Connection among dSPACE analog outputs, Advanced Motion control amplifier 1, and
motor 1 inputs.

3.7 Power Supply

Two power supplies are used in the experiment. The first one is manufactured by Twinfly and it
supplies a 12 DC voltage at a maximum of 8.5A. This voltage is down-converted to 5V by means of

10
 36V

Connector P2
5M
4M
3M
2M Red Wire Motor Output 2
White Wire Motor Output 2
1M
Black Wire Motor Output 2
16
15
14
SIG. C3 Encoder Output 2
13
SIG. C2 Encoder Output 2
12
SIG. C1 Encoder Output 2 5V (Encoder 2)
11
10
9
8
7
SIG. B Encoder Output 2 & Encoder Input P1B 41 dSPACE
6
SIG. A Encoder Output 2 & Encoder Input P1B 24 dSPACE
5
P1B 25 dSPACE
4
P1B 31 dSPACE
3
2
Shield Cable of Encoder 2
1

Connector P1

Adv anced Motion Control 2

Figure 9: Connection among dSPACE analog outputs, Advanced Motion control amplifier 2, and
motor 2 inputs.

the voltage regulator LM7805. These 5 volts are used to power up all the timers that drive both the
target and gun lasers and all photodetectors. The other power supply is manufactured by Sorensen
(DCR-40-25B) which supplies 36 DC volts to the two Advanced Motion Control amplifiers.

3.8 Travel Times Between Targets

Tables 5 and 6 show the travel times between targets for gun 1 and 2 respectively. These values
are useful in the decision-making process when the control strategies to be implemented consider
the minimization of the travel time of the guns between targets. Moreover, note that, in general,
the travel times between targets i and j are slightly different from the ones from targets j and i,
and compare the travel times for the same targets for guns 1 and 2.

Table 5: Electromechanical arcade: travel times (seconds) between targets for gun 1.

Target 1 Target 2 Target 3 Target 4 Target 5 Target 6 Target 7 Target 8

Target 1 0 1.801 3.359 4.83 6.207 7.469 8.744 9.99

Target 2 1.81 0 1.506 2.975 4.356 5.616 6.890 8.135
Target 3 3.374 1.513 0 1.414 2.794 4.054 5.328 6.572
Target 4 4.832 2.971 1.412 0 1.335 2.596 3.867 5.115
Target 5 6.211 4.350 2.791 1.335 0 1.213 2.491 3.736
Target 6 7.478 5.618 4.056 2.6 1.227 0 1.224 2.470
Target 7 8.747 6.889 5.328 3.873 2.494 1.218 0 1.199
Target 8 10.003 8.142 6.581 5.127 3.748 2.472 1.212 0

11
 Table 6: Electromechanical arcade: travel times (seconds) between targets for gun 2.

Target 1 Target 2 Target 3 Target 4 Target 5 Target 6 Target 7 Target 8

Target 1 0 1.443 2.922 4.488 6.069 7.798 9.706 11.937

Target 2 1.443 0 1.421 2.984 4.571 6.305 8.207 10.442
Target 3 2.919 1.426 0 1.512 3.096 4.824 6.731 8.963
Target 4 4.484 2.991 1.514 0 1.529 3.257 5.167 7.4
Target 5 6.065 4.573 3.093 1.529 0 1.679 3.587 5.82
Target 6 7.794 6.301 4.824 3.258 1.675 0 1.857 4.088
Target 7 9.714 8.22 6.744 5.178 3.593 1.866 0 2.169
Target 8 11.949 10.449 8.976 7.41 5.822 4.095 2.168 0

3.9 Simulink Blocks

Here we explain the main Simulink blocks that you will need to initialize the experiment, to
interface to all photodetectors, to shoot the gun lasers once a target has been detected, and to
control the guns’ angular positions. There are five main blocks in the programs as shown in
Figure 10. The “memory allocation” block contains all the global variables defined in the program.

RTI Data

Memory Allocation Initialization & Control Algorithm PID Control Target Photodetectors
Gun Lasers

Figure 10: Main blocks in the experiment.

The “initialization and control algorithm” block has the initialization of the gun angular positions
and the main program. The “PID control” block sets the reference inputs for the motor angular
positions, reads the actual angular position of the motors, generates the controller output, and
determines when the guns reach the desired position. The “target photodetectors” block scans the
digital inputs of the target photodetectors. The “gun lasers” block turns the lasers on and off.
Next, we describe the key blocks in more detail.

3.9.1 Initialization and Control Algorithm

Figure 11 shows the blocks contained in the initialization and control algorithm. The “Mode”
variable has to be defined in the dSPACE GUI so it can take 0 or 1 values. If its value is zero, then
it will enter the “initialization” block; otherwise, it will enter to the “regular” block.
The initialization block is used for setting the angle references for both guns. Figure 12 shows
the initialization of the gun angles. This turns both gun lasers on and assigns 1 to the variables
“t1” and “t2,” which indicates that both guns start at an angular position equal to 120.5◦ and
120◦ respectively (more details on this will be explained below). These angular positions serve as

12
 if(u1 == 0)
0 u1
else
If1 if {}
Mode

Initialization

else { }

Regular

Figure 11: Blocks contained in the initialization and control algorithm.

references for future desired angular positions so that you need to point both gun lasers at the
photodetector of target 1 at this time. Figure 13 shows the logic to check whether it is time to

if {}

Action Port

1 t1 1 GunLaser1

Constant Data Store Constant 2 Data Store

Write Write2

1 t2 1 GunLaser2

Constant 1 Data Store Constant 3 Data Store

Write1 Write3

Figure 12: Initialization of the experiment.

make a new decision. If so, then the variable “DecisionFlag1” is equal to 1 and the block “Choose
t1” will select the new target to process next. You will implement your own scheduling algorithms
in this block, where the results of your solutions will dynamically change the values of the variables
t1 and t2 to point the guns at the desired targets. Figure 14 shows one option of how the guns
can choose different targets at every decision time; however, the students still need to implement
their own strategies in all the blocks “Apply Policy for Gun 1 if T2=X.” Here, the basic idea is
that gun 1 checks first which target gun 2 is pursuing or processing. Then gun 1 chooses any target
except the one already being pursued or processed by gun 2. Once a gun has chosen a new target
to process next, it will wait for the appearance of the target that is pointing at. If so, it will turn
its laser on; otherwise, it will wait for the target appearance. Once the gun shoots at the target,
the program checks if the target was shot successfully and if that is the case, the gun will gain a

13
point and it will move to another target’s location (more on this will be explained below).

else { }

Action Port

if(u1 == 1) In1

DecisionFlag1 u1
else Choose t1
Data Store
If u1 == 1
Read1

else { } if(u1 == 1 )
Out2 u1
else

Detect Target & If

Fire Gun1
if {}

else { }

If Gun 1
Shooted
If Gun 1 Not Shooted

Figure 13: Regular block of the experiment.

3.9.2 PID Control

The blocks contained in this part will be used for controlling the gun angular position. Figure 15
shows the angles to which the guns need to point at in order to detect any of the eight targets. The
values contained in variables t1 and t2 will determine the angular position to which gun1 and gun2
will point at. This is the current setpoint that is passed to the block “MotorXCon,” which is used
by the PID controller shown in Figure 16 as the variable “Angle1.” A rate limiter is used to slow
down the speed of the motor during setpoint changes to prevent any slippage of the guns on the
motor shafts and to allow for easy viewing of the operation of experiment. Each of these motors
has a quadrature encoder that provides the current angular position of the motor. The actual angle
and the setpoint values are used to compute the angular position error, and the PID controller uses
this value to control the angular position of the guns. When the absolute value of the error is less
or equal to 0.6 the flag “enableFlag1” is set to 1, which means that the gun is already pointing at
the desired target. Note that if t1=3 in the block “PID Control,” then gun1 will set the reference
of the target 3 angular position to 79.5 (see Figure 15). This reference will be passed to the blocks
defined in Figure 16 and the PID controller will point this gun at that reference angle sometime
later. Furthermore, there is logic that will indicate when the gun has reached the target position
by setting the flag “enableFlag1/enableFlag2” to 1 for motor1/motor2.

3.9.3 Detection and Shooting at Targets

Once a gun has chosen a target to process next, the variable “DecisionFlag1” is reset and the
algorithm enters the block “Detect Target & Fire Gun1” (see Figure 13). In this particular case,
the gun will wait for the appearance of the chosen target. Figure 17 shows how a gun detects a
target appearance if it is pointed directly at it via a photodetector mounted on the gun. If the
signal on the variable “enableFlag1” is greater than or equal to 0.5, the block propagates the signal
read by the gun photodetector “GunDetector 1;” otherwise, it propagates the third input (turns

14
the laser off in the block “DisableGun1”). Notice that the gun photodetector only looks for an
appearance when the gun has reached the desired angular position (i.e., variable “enableFlag1” has
been set to 1 in the PID control block). Once the target appearance has occurred, the gun laser is
automatically shot. Figure 18 shows how this is done in dSPACE using the variables “GunLaser1”
and “GunLaser2” (these variables are contained in the block “gun lasers”).

3.9.4 Shot Target

When a gun shoots at a target, the corresponding target photodetector must be checked to see
whether it was successfully shot. Figure 19 shows the logic to determine how to do that. First, this
routine finds out which target the gun is pointing at (block switch case 1). Second, it checks if the
corresponding photodetector was triggered (i.e., block ifTargetx). Figure 20 shows how the target
photodetector signals are associated to digital inputs in dSPACE. Figure 21 shows the logic of how
to verify whether a target (target 1 in this case) was successfully shot respectively. If TargetSensor 1
is equal to zero, then the student can execute the desired action in the block “If Action Subsystem;”
otherwise, the algorithm keeps looking at TargetSensor 1 until it becomes equal to zero. Finally,
when the target is successfully shot, the block ifTargetX will output 1 and the block “Set DecFlag
1” (Figure 22) will be executed, which increments the gun points by 1, and the gun will then be
ready to make a new decision by setting the variable “DecisionFlag1.”

3.10 Steps to Start and Stop the Experiment

This section describes the steps necessary to either start or stop the experiment in the proper
manner. They must be followed to avoid any damage caused to the guns.

3.10.1 How to Start the Experiment

Here we provide a recipe about how to sequentially execute several steps in order to guarantee the
proper functioning of the electromechanical arcade. Recall that the moment in which you attach
the guns to the shaft of the motor is very critical so these steps make sure that this takes place at
the right time.

F Warning: Do not ever look directly into the lasers as this can damage your eyes.

1. Guns Unmounted from Motor Shafts: At this time both guns must be unmounted from
the motor shafts.

2. Reset Variable Mode in dSPACE GUI: Make sure that this variable is equal to zero
before running the experiment. See Section 3.9.1 for details.

3. Run the Experiment: Run the experiment using the dSPACE GUI.

4. Power Supplies ON: Before connecting the Sorensen power supply to the experiment, make
sure its output voltage is set to 36 volts. Having checked that you can turn this power supply
on. On the other hand, connect the cord of the Twinfly power supply to the AC outlet. The
shaft of the motors must be fixed at this time.

5. Mount Guns: Proceed to mount both guns on their respective motor shafts. You must
align each laser beams to the photodetector of target 1. Once the laser beams are hitting the

15
 photodector of target 1, proceed to fix the guns to the motor shafts by means of the setscrews
located in the fabric composite material.

6. Run your control strategy: At this moment you are ready to test your scheduling strategy.
You can do this by setting the variable Mode to 1 in the dSPACE GUI.

F Warning: If you want to stop the experiment, you must follow the steps below.

3.10.2 How to Stop the Experiment

These are the steps that must be taken to stop the experiment. These steps avoid the potential
damage that could be caused to the gun wires if these are not followed in the right order. These
steps must be followed when the program needs to be stopped when it is already running or when
you need to recompile your Simulink file.

1. Reset Variable Mode in dSPACE GUI: Set this variable to zero. The guns will point
at target 1.

2. Unmount Guns: Proceed to take the guns off the motor shafts.

3. Experiment Ready: Now you can do what you need to do with the software. You can
recompile your file or stop the experiment in the dSPACE GUI.

F To start the experiment again follow the steps in the above subsection.

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank William Thalgott and Emmet Evans for helping with
some construction details for the electromechanical arcade. The arcade was originally constructed
by a group of undergraduates in an EE 682P design project and it was later improved by Kristina
Guspan and Dawn M. Kin.

16
 Action

Action Port

0 DecisionFlag1

NoDecisionTime
Data Store
Write1

Action

case [ 1 ]:
Apply Policy for
Gun 1 if T2=1

case [ 2 ]: Action

Apply Policy for

Gun 1 if T2=2
case [ 3 ]: Action

Apply Policy for

Gun 1 if T2=3
case [ 4 ]:

Action
t2 u1

case [ 5 ]: Apply Policy for

Data Store
Gun 1 if T2=4
Read
Action

case [ 6 ]: Apply Policy for

Gun 1 if T2=5

case [ 7 ]: Action

Apply Policy for

Gun 1 if T2=6
case [ 8 ]:

Action
Switch Case2
Apply Policy for
Gun 1 if T2=7

Action

Apply Policy for

Gun 1 if T2=8

Figure 14: Scheduling block of the experiment.

17
 t1
Data Store
Read 120.5
Target1
98.25
Target2
79.5
Target3
62 Angle1
Target4
45.45
Motor1Con
Target5
30.25
Target6
15
Target7

0.05
Multiport
Target8 Switch

t2
Data Store
Read2 120
Target1b
105
Target2b
90.25
Target3b
74.6 Angle2
Target4b AngleSP
58.8
Motor2Con
Target5b
41.5
Target6b
22.3
Target7b
0
Target8b Multiport
Switch1

Figure 15: Set-point of guns.

18
 Out1 360/500 PID ANALOG OUT
counts ActualAngle Error OutputVoltage

Out2 PID Controller DS1104DAC_C1

Gain
DS1104ENC_POS_C1

Terminator1

1
Angle1
Rate Limiter

if(u1 <= .6)

|u| u1
else
if {}
Abs If

If motor has
achieved desired angle.
else { } enableFlag = 1

If motor is in process
of moving.
enableFlag = 0

Figure 16: PID control block of the experiment.

else {}
Action Port

MASTER BIT IN (double) 1

GunDetector1 Out2
DataConv2
GunDetector_C6 In1Out1 (double) GunLaser1
enableFlag1 Toggle DataConv3 DataStore1
Write
Data Store
Read 1 Switch
DisableGun1

Figure 17: Detection of target appearance and shooting of laser.

19
 GunLaser1 (boolean) MASTER BIT OUT

Data Store DataConv1 GunLaser1

Read1

GunLaser2 (boolean) MASTER BIT OUT

Data Store DataConv2 GunLaser2

Read3

Figure 18: Shooting of guns.

if {}
Action Port

case:}{Out1
case [ 1 ]: IfTarget1

case [ 2 ]: case:}{
Out2
If Target2
case:}{
case [ 3 ]: Out1
(boolean)
If Target3 Data Type Conversion
(boolean)
case [ 4 ]: case:}{ Set DecFlag1
Out1 Data Type Conversion1
(boolean)
t1 u1 If Target4
Data Type Conversion2
if {}
Data Store case [ 5 ]: (boolean)
Read case:}{Out1 OR u1 if(u1 ==) 1
Data Type Conversion3
If Target5 (boolean) If2
Data Type Conversion4
case [ 6 ]: (boolean)
case:}{
Out1 Data Type Conversion5
(boolean)
If Target6
Data Type Conversion6
case [ 7 ]: (boolean)
case:}{Out1
Data Type Conversion7
Logical
If Target7 Operator
case [ 8 ]:
case:}{
Out1
Switch Case1 IfTarget8

Figure 19: Determination of the target that was shot .

20
TargetSensor 1 MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 1

TargetSensor 1 DS1104BIT_IN_C15 Data Type Conversion5 Data Store 0

MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 2

TargetSensor 2
DS1104BIT_IN_C14 Data Store
TargetSensor 2 Data Type Conversion4
MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 3
TargetSensor 3
DS1104BIT_IN_C13 Data Store1
TargetSensor 3 Data Type Conversion3
MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 4
TargetSensor 4
DS1104BIT_IN_C12 Data Store2
TargetSensor 4 Data Type Conversion2
MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 5
TargetSensor 5
DS1104BIT_IN_C11 Data Store3
TargetSensor 5 Data Type Conversion1
MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 6
TargetSensor 6
DS1104BIT_IN_C10 Data Store4
TargetSensor 6 Data Type Conversion
MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 7
TargetSensor 7
DS1104BIT_IN_C9 Data Type Conversion6 Data Store5
TargetSensor 7
MASTER BIT IN (double) TargetSensor 8
TargetSensor 8
DS1104BIT_IN_C8 Data Store6
Data Type Conversion7
TargetSensor 8

Figure 20: Target photodetectors connected to dSPACE.

case: {}
Action Port

TargetSensor1 u1 if(u1 == 0)
Data Store if {}
Read If Shot
Out1 1 Outputs a 1 if target was shot
.
Otherwise remains 0.
Out1
If Action
Subsystem

Figure 21: Logic for verifying a target shot.

21
 else { }

Action Port

ShootCounter 1 ShootCounter 1

Data Store Data Store

Read Write1

DecisionTime1

1 DecisionFlag1

DecisionTime Data Store

Write

Figure 22: Point obtained by the guns.

22