Field programmable gate array-based sensorless control of a brushless synchronous starter generator for aircraft application

Sensorless control of synchronous machine (SM) is a well-investigated research topic. However, avionics manufacturers still have restrictions about its applications due to the complexity of the on-board systems. This study presents a study investigating the use of an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate the position and speed of a brushless exciter synchronous starter/generator. In spite of the machine complexity and the critical choice of the EKF covariance matrices, the EKF observer presents satisfying simulation results in estimating the position and the velocity of the mentioned motor during the start-up. Experimental results performed on an SM with an EKF implemented on a field programmable gate array are also shown to prove the efficiency of this type of implementation.