Machine control systems: performance evaluation of conventional and dataflow concepts

A performance evaluation of a novel or dataflow architecture for embedded systems is presented with a comparison with the conventional control system. An analytic model of the two architectures (OR dataflow and control flow) is constructed. Based on this model, performance parameters, such as throughput, delays, and capacity, were calculated. The theoretical analysis and comparison of the dataflow-driven and control-flow-driven systems suggest a superiority of the OR dataflow architecture. To verify these results, a real grinding machine control system was built and an experimental verification of the theoretical approach was performed. The OR dataflow-driven control system was constructed using the same hardware components as its conventional control-flow-driven counterpart. The efficiency of this system is compared with that of conventional control systems using as an example the grinding of a workpiece to stringent quality requirements