ExPERImENTAL ELECTRONIC INSTRUmENT FOR A HYDRAULIC

The heart of most machine control applications is an electronic controller such as a programmable automation controller (PAC) or programmable logic controller (PLC) [1]. The controller is used to receive sensor data and to control the machine using analog and digital I/O signals, and mathematical algorithms like PIDs [2]. Traditionally PLCs have been used in machine control and they are programmed using tools such as ladder diagrams or sequential function charts. One of the biggest benefits of using a PAC is the ability to add other tasks to the control application, which could not be handled by a traditional PLC [3]. For this reason, increasingly machine control is moving to PACs because they offer higher performance and more functionality, allowing operations such as high-speed data acquisition and processing, as well as motion control and vision which are not supported in traditional PLCs [1, 4, 5].