Power PMAC motion controller handles up to 128 axes

The Power PMAC employs a full Linux operating system with a hard-real-time kernel, creating a complete general-purpose computing environment. But it also comes embedded with a complete motion and machine control software environment that builds on the success of Delta Tau's existing PMAC and Turbo PMAC controllers. This results in a powerful device for almost any industrial, commercial or military motion control application.

It rescues machine control designers from a classic dilemma: the choice between a dedicated controller that makes executing basic tasks easy but can limit the sophistication of what can be accomplished; or a general-purpose computing engine that permits the use of the full sophistication of modern programming languages but makes it very difficult just to get from point A to point B.

In virtually all aspects of the machine control, users have the choice between using the built-in algorithm and providing their own software, written in C or C++ and compiled with the public domain GNU compiler. C programs can be written manually or generated from environments such as IEC 1131 or Matlab/Simulink, as well as EPICS or other task-oriented programs.

Built-in script language

With the Power PMAC's built-in script language for both motion sequences and general machine and I/O logic, many issues can be dealt with: proper timing and pipelining of move sequences, simple or complex, automatic type matching of different variables (short-word and long-word, fixed-point and floating-point). It also provides the advanced tools of a good integrated development environment (IDE) - editors, debuggers and project managers - that standard programming languages have. It also retains the ability to issue simple on-line commands directly, permitting the user to converse easily with the controller.

The Power PMAC supports the new third-generation machine-interface ASIC, which is said to have unprecedented speed, integration and feature set. The ASIC supports quadrature encoders with hardware 1/T interpolation, as well as sinusoidal encoders and resolvers with hardware arctangent interpolation and most of the common serial encoder protocols such as EnDat2.2TM and SSI, plus analogue, PWM and pulse-and-direction outputs.

Other Power PMAC features include: 800MHz and 1GHz RISC processors with hardware floating-point engine, permitting programmed move block rates of up to 5000 per second with controlled acceleration and jerk; 100-Base-T and 1000-Base-T Ethernet TCP/IP communications with efficient DMA streaming; PCI Express, USB, SATA and RS-232 interfaces to support keyboard, video, disk drive and other interfaces, making the PPMAC a complete, standalone RT Linux-based PC; and a built-in web server to support direct browser access for development, maintenance and HMI.