Category: Industry Trends

Motion. Control. Together.

The Automation1-iXC4e, a hardware platform for running the Automation1-iSMC

intelligent software-based motion controller, features a servo motor drive.

That means it has the ability to run your entire machine’s control, act as a servo

drive for a single axis and control up to 11 added axes of motion over our fiber-optic

HyperWire motion bus. The supported EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP and

Socket interface enable true full machine and motion system control.

Combining this technology on a single hardware device lowers your machine costs,

reduces machine size and increases reliability.

The iSMC, which runs on the iXC4e, is programmable in AeroScript from the

Automation1 Studio application and several available APIs.

Automation1

The iXC4e is a part of the user-friendly Automation1 motion control platform,

which includes the following:

• Development Software

• Controls

• Motor Drives

• Fiber-Optic HyperWire® Communication Bus

Automation1 iXC4e Enhanced, PWM Servo Drive with Motion Controller

The iXC4e is the powerful center of your motion control architecture.

It has a full motion controller, connects to other Automation1 drives over

HyperWire and connects to other automation devices over EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP™,

Modbus TCP/IP or a TCP Socket interface.

Design Features

• Unlock the full motion control power of our Automation1 iSMC intelligent

software-based motion controller

• Features complete configuration & performance capability of XC4e servo

motor drive

• Connect to the controller using EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, Modbus or a Socket

interface

• Enjoy up to 12 axes of control by connecting more Automation1 drives over

the HyperWire fiber-optic bus

• Expand your I/O by adding expansion board to the iXC4e or to other connected

drives

Automation1

The HyperWire Motion Control Communication Bus is a part of the user

friendly Automation1 motion control platform, which includes the following:

• Development Software

• Controls

• Motor Drives

• Fiber-Optic HyperWire® Communication Bus

KEY FEATURES:

• Controls UP TO 32 AXES with no performance loss

• 20X THE THROUGHPUT of 100BASE-T Ethernet

• ZERO-JITTER technology (patented)

• 100 kHz cycle time for LOW-LATENCY, DRIVE-TO-DRIVE DISTRIBUTIVE

CONTROL

• Uses standard glass optical fiber cables with SMALL FORM-FACTOR

PLUGGABLE (SFP) CONNECTORS

• Immune to EMI noise

Flexible, Reliable Performance at Light Speed

The fiber-optic, light-based HyperWire® motion control bus is the fastest,

highest-throughput communication bus in motion control. It enables 20

times the throughput that was possible with a 100BASE-T Ethernet.

With HyperWire, you can count on reliable communication that is

immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and nearly free of jitter.

Plus, the HyperWire protocol operates at 100 kHz—five times the speed

of competing solutions—enabling efficient, multi-input, multi-output (MIMO)

control algorithms you won’t find anywhere else. Hyperwire is flexible

enabling servo motor and laser scan head drives to be simultaneously

added to a single HyperWire network.

A Collection of Tools

The Dynamic Controls Toolbox (DCT) contains a collection of

controller-level algorithms that are designed to improve machine

positioning, increase throughput and reduce cycle times. Parameters

supplied in the toolbox are used to configure these algorithms.

The DCT algorithm was developed based on years of experience in

optimizing motion control systems. Apply DCT tools to your system

today in order to achieve optimal performance.

Automation1

Automation1 Dynamic Controls Toolbox is part of the user-friendly

Automation1 motion control platform, which includes the following:

• Development Software

• Controls

• Motor Drives

• Fiber-Optic HyperWire® Communication Bus

KEY FEATURES:

• Improves performance

• Reduces tracking error

• Rejects sinusoidal disturbances

• Filters undesired frequencies

• Minimizes off-axis position errors

Key Features

• Ready-to-use, open source device drivers developed in partnership

with Argonne National Laboratory and Observatory Sciences

• Motion control integration made simple – tested & verified

• Open source drivers

• Unlocks the power of Aerotech motion control

• Powers position synchronized output (PSO) position-based process

control

• Supports absolute encoder & EtherCat

• Features powerful configuration & tuning tools

• Develops applications for the Linux operating system

Automation1

The Automation1 EPICS & TANGO drivers are part of the user-friendly

Automation1 motion control platform, which includes the following:

• Development Software

• Controls

• Motor Drives

• Fiber-Optic HyperWire® Communication Bus

We developed EPICS and TANGO drivers for the Automation1 motion

control platform in partnership with laboratory control system experts

at Argonne National Laboratory and Observatory Sciences.

This means the motor drivers are ready to use and have an open

source interface. Automation1 also has .NET, C and Python APIs for

building Windows and Linux applications.

EPICS and TANGO provide a common language for scientists using

experimental science facilities. Our Automation1 motion control 

platform is the premier standard in precision motion control and

includes new PWM and linear amplifier technology, superior configuration

and setup tools, absolute encoder support, the innovative fiber-optic

HyperWire motion bus, and our Position Synchronized Output (PSO)

feature that provides process triggers based on actual position—making

detector triggering and position capture easy.