8. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

8.1. USB compatibility

Microchip does manufacture a few motor control parts that include a USB peripheral (the dsPIC33EPXXXMU806/810/814 series). The application framework does not support USB at this time, but we are considering it in the future.

8.2. RTOS compatibility

We plan to investigate ways in which our application framework can meet the strict timing requirements of motor control, but also remain compatible with an RTOS. This is a future effort, and at this time is incomplete.

8.3. MATLAB^® and Simulink^®

Our long-term goal is to support both customers that program PIC^® microcontrollers and dsPIC^® DSCs for motor control in C, and customers that use MATLAB^® and Simulink^® for code generation. At this time, the motor control application framework is aimed at motor control projects which rely on MPLAB^® X and the XC16 C compiler, and it does not support Simulink code generation. The motor control application framework software has been written by hand to be readable and efficient; Simulink-generated C code is by its very nature not intended to be read or edited, but rather to be autogenerated for rapid prototyping and sufficient equivalency to simulation results, and it is constrained by features of the MATLAB code generation engine.

We are considering ways to support both types of customer; at least in the short term, it is likely that our support for customers using MATLAB and Simulink will be through a separate application, specifically aimed to use Simulink.