High Performance Network for Motion Control and Data Acquisition
Victoria, B.C., August, 2004 - PMDi, the industry leader in high performance motion control and data acquisition announces MotionWire™. With absolutely no penalty in performance you can now implement distributed motion control and data acquisition for your most demanding applications at a cost-effective price. This is made possible using MotionWire's extremely fast 480Mbps communication protocol, standard RJ45 connectors and CAT5e cabling.
480 Mbps Master-Slave Network
MotionWire is a master-slave network using a star / daisy chain topology. The DMC100 is a PCI-bus DSP based controller configured as Master in the Master-Slave network with 4 MotionWire ports. Each MotionWire port runs at 120Mbps, with 4 ports a communication rate of 480Mbps is achieved. MotionWire cable lengths can range from 0.25m - 100m which allows for easy integration into compact OEM machines, remote applications, large machines, assembly lines or control room applications.
Each MotionWire port supports a daisy chain for up to 16 devices. MotionWire devices are available for servo motors, stepper motors, digital I/O and analog I/O. With 4 MotionWire ports the DMC100 can support up to 64 modules for multi-axis motion control and data acquisition. The master controller performs motion control computations which include set-point generation, PID feedback control and other motion control and data acquisition functions. Data communicated across MotionWire is arranged in 32-bit words that represent encoder positions, digital and analog inputs and outputs.
Motion Controllers Supporting MotionWire
MotionWire is provided on all PMDi motion controllers including the DMC100, MC4000, MC8000, eDMC100, MFIO-4A and MFIO-8A.
Lean Protocol
Unlike many other industrial networks, MotionWire uses a lean protocol. To illustrate, for 8 axes of servo control, 10kHz update rates are possible with plenty of room to spare for data acquisition.
Multi-Axis Synchronous Motion
Although MotionWire provides distributed I/O across a network, synchronous multi-axis motion control capability is maintained. The master controller, such as DMC100, computes the multi-axis PID filters and generates multi-axis setpoints. All feedback such as position encoder reads and control signals such as analog output writes occur within just a few microseconds across MotionWire due to its extremely fast speed and compact protocol, enabling synchronous multi-axis motion.
Safety
MotionWire uses a heart-beat signal. If a cable is cut or a connector is displaced, the absence of the heart-beat causes affected devices to enter into a safe mode where all outputs transition to a pre-defined safe state.
Streaming Data
MotionWire is ideal for both motion control and data acquisition. Buffered data acquisition and streaming position compare are both possible by employing the DSP and memory available on the PCI-bus master controller such as the DMC100.
Full Software Integration
MotionWire is fully supported by MotionSuite, PMDi's suite of software tools that includes MCI-SoftLIBTM and MotionToolsTM. MCI-SoftLIB is PMDi's software library of powerful, easy-to-use motion control functions. MotionTools is PMDi's application software for configuring motion control cards and for tuning servo motors and programming motion.
For more information on this product
, Request Product Catalog or Contact PMDi . You may also visit their website at www.pmdi.com
About PMDi
PMDi ( www.pmdi.com ) is the industry leader in high-performance motion control and data acquisition. PMDi has customers in a variety of industries including CNC, semiconductor, data storage, automotive, medical and aerospace. PMDi strengths include general motion control (GMC), computer numerical control (CNC) and test & measurement (T&M).
