STM32F429 Discovery Board-Based Emulator for Lotka-Volterra Equations

Abstract

Lotka-Volterra equations are commonly used in prey-predator population studies. Simulation programs are commonly used to produce solutions of Lotka-Volterra equations and to examine their initial value dependendence. In literature, chaotic waveform generators, ECG and EEG generators have been made and used for research and education. To the best of our knowledge, such an electrical circuit to produce the Lotka-Volterra waveforms does not exist. Such a circuit can be made using either analog or digital circuit components. However, such a device may be used for education in classroom and also to prove concepts by population researchers. In this study, implementation and experimental verification of the microcontroller-based circuit which solves Lotka Volterra equations in real time and produces its waveforms are presented. Euler method is used to solve the equation system in discrete time. Presented design has been implemented using an STM32F429 Discovery Board, two DACs and four opamps. The microcontroller sends the signals to the outputs of the circuit using digital-to-analog converters and opamps. The waveforms acquired experimentally from the implemented circuit outputs matches well with those obtained from numerical simulations.