Sequential and parallel real-time simulation of a flexible manipulator system

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation into the utilisation of sequential and parallel processing techniques for the real-time simulation of a flexible manipulator system. A finite dimensional simulation of the system is developed using a finite difference approximation to the governing dynamic equation of the manipulator. The developed algorithm is implemented on a number of uni-processor and multi-processor, homogeneous and heterogeneous, parallel architectures. A comparison of the results of these implementations is made and discussed, on the basis of real-time processing requirements in the simulation and control of flexible manipulator systems.