motion control systems

A New White Paper by Advanced Motion Controls

Servo-based motion control systems have traditionally been categorized into two types: centralized or distributed.  Centralized systems use dedicated motion control cards that account for all aspects of the system including servo commands, motor feedback and I/O to close all control loops while simultaneously running complex programs that plan motion profiles and maintain machine operations.  Increasing the number of axes involved places an ever increasing burden on the processing power of the DSP quickly making the system unmanageable simply due to scalability.

A motion control system is a system that controls the position, velocity, force or pressure of some machine.  As an example, an electromechanical based motion control system consists of a motion controller (the brains of the system), a drive (which takes the low power command signal from the motion controller and converts it into high power current/voltage to the motor), a motor (which converts electrical energy to mechanical energy), a feedback device (which sends signals back to the motion controller to make adjustments until the system produces the desired result), and a mechanical system (including actuators, which physically produce the desired end result).
A motion controller is the primary intelligence, or brain, within a motion control system.  It is responsible for calculating and generating the output commands for a desired motion path or trajectory. Motion controllers vary in complexity; sophisticated motion controllers typically consist of a trajectory generator...