PMDi Polaris high-speed motion control system from LG Motion

The Polaris is a complete motion and machine control system than runs on the company's own real-time Gbit/s Mercury network. With multi-axis motion controllers, servo amplifiers for brushed and brushless motors, high-bandwidth galvanometers and voice coil actuators, and digital and analogue I/O modules, Polaris complements LG Motion's comprehensive range of positioning mechanics and machine design expertise to enable customised automated sub-systems to be created for applications across industry and research. The Polaris range is also of benefit to system integrators and OEMs who require the flexibility of a distributed motion and machine control platform for their own automated machinery.

The Gbps Ethernet-based Mercury communication protocol is claimed to be the fastest real-time network on the market, with the synchronisation of data acquisition and control in all amplifier and IO modules to within 10 nanoseconds, and with motion capability to 124 axes. For even faster timing co-ordination, the optional Pulsar module further reduces the sampling jitter to achieve sub-nanosecond synchronisation.

With the servo loop performed in the amplifier, enabling rates of up to 200kHz to be achieved, advanced system performance features include advanced motion path planning, cubic splines, PVT profiles, and jerk limitation. Both the motion controller and the amplifier feature full 64-bit double-floating-point calculations for extremely high positioning accuracy, fast servo feedback rates and sub-micron resolution for improved form and finish, combined with high speed and acceleration controls that enable faster production throughput.

PMDi's Polaris motion control system includes multi-threaded customisable software that enables users to create their own scripts and user-defined G-Code. A powerful GUI is included that runs on Windows systems. The range is fully supported with set-up, status, tuning, tutorials and help wizards that enable fast and straightforward system commissioning and programming.

Gary Livingstone, LG Motion's Managing Director, comments: "PMDi's Polaris distributed motion control technology allows us to quickly and competitively develop and build multi-axis motion controls for our own custom-designed positioning systems and opens up new markets with OEMs and machine builders who need ultra-high-performance motion and machine controls."

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