ADLINK PCI-8158 - Manual (Page 51)

Operation Theory 41
4 Operation Theory
This chapter describes the detail operation of the motion controller
card. Contents of the following sections are as follows:
Section 4.1: Classifications of Motion Controller
Section 4.2: Motion Control Modes
Section 4.3: Motor Driver Interface
Section 4.4: Mechanical switch Interface
Section 4.5: The Counters
Section 4.6: The Comparators
Section 4.7: Other Motion Functions
Section 4.8: Interrupt Control
Section 4.9: Multiple Cards Operation
4.1 Classifications of Motion Controller
When servo/stepper drivers were first introduced, motor control
was separated into two layers: motor control and motion control.
Motor control relates to PWM, power stage, closed loop, hall sen-
sors, vector space, etc. Motion control refers to speed profile gen-
erating, trajectory following, multi-axes synchronization, and
coordinating.
4.1.1 Voltage type motion control Interface
The interfaces between motion and motor control are changing
rapidly. From the early years, voltage signals were used as a com-
mand to motor controller. The amplitude of the signal means how
fast a motor rotating and the time duration of the voltage changes
means how fast a motor acceleration from one speed to the other
speed. Voltage signal as a command to motor driver is so called
“analog” type motion controller. It is much easier to integrate into
an analog circuit of motor controller. However, sometimes noise is
a big issue for this type of motion control. Besides, if you want to
do positioning control of a motor, the analog type motion controller
must have a feedback signal of position information and use a
closed loop control algorithm to make it possible. This increased
the complexity of motion control.