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Foster-Miller has been providing end-to-end instrumentation and controls development for over 35 years. The skills of more than 100 engineers here range from the theoretical aspects of modeling and control algorithm design through to implementation in hardware controlled by custom embedded software. These capabilities are embodied at Foster-Miller in modeling, controller synthesis, hardware and software development and sensor development. Controller synthesis involves creating a controller structure/algorithm and selecting gains in that structure so that system performance requirements are met. This aspect of instrumentation and controls development can be subtle and mathematically intensive. To meet this challenge, Foster-Miller employs engineers who have studied control theory at the graduate level and also have years of experience implementing these algorithms in hardware. The result is control schemes that are thoroughly innovative yet practical to implement Since the individual projects addressed by Foster-Miller are frequently unique, there is often no adequate off-the-shelf sensing technology suited to the control challenges they present. Therefore, Foster-Miller’s staff includes experts in sensor development who can develop custom sensing technologies to meet any need. In other sensing applications, the novelty of the sensor is involved in subtle post-processing of the sensed data. Foster-Miller also has experience in using novel signal processing techniques to create working sensors and meters that interpret raw data that would yield no meaningful results via more conventional techniques. Nearly all controls applications addressed at Foster-Miller include a software component, and Foster-Miller has in-house experts to handle this aspect of project development too. We adhere to a carefully documented Software Development Plan that dictates the details of the process to ensure the production of on-time, high-quality software. We are experienced in writing software that covers all aspects of a controller system from embedded software with hard real-time constraints, to user interface software that allows a user to interact with the embedded components, to data collection and diagnostic systems. Hardware design is a complementary stage in the design process with controller synthesis. The choice of controller methodology imposes constraints on the hardware that runs the controller. Foster-Miller is experienced in developing controller hardware to meet a wide range of specific applications. Controller requirements often can be met using commercial off-the-shelf hardware such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) or PC-104 systems. In these cases, Foster-Miller is experienced in selection and integration of commercial components. Other cases require high-performance specialty controller hardware built from the component level. Our staff is experienced in design and construction of custom systems, including custom circuit boards, embedded communications networks and custom sensor development. The first stage in controller development is the creation of a system model. Using this model, it is possible to determine critical design aspects of the control systems, such as the number of sensors, what type of closed-loop performance is feasible with a given set of control inputs, what constraints affect the system, and, ultimately, which controller realizes the desired performance. Model creation is often a very difficult aspect of instrumentation and controls development, because a model that is good for controller design must be as simple as possible, yet capture the salient aspects of the system’s dynamics. One of Foster-Miller’s core capabilities is exactly this sort of Analysis and Simulation.
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