Low-Cost, Single-Axis Controller Includes 130 Commands

March 19, 2001

Single-axis motion control now costs just $28 in OEM lots. The Pilot MC3110 motion processor from Performance Motion Devices Inc. is the first of a family of devices that control brushed servo motors. Models designed for brushless servo motors will...

Roger Allan

The surface-mounted CMOS chip is a 132-pin device that works from 5 V. It's driven by a host microprocessor through an asynchronous bidirectional port. Users, then, can offload resource-intensive motion-control functions from the host. With over 130 commands, the MC3110's instruction set offers flexibility and versatility for application programming.

The chip provides user-selectable profiling models, including S-curve, trapezoidal, and velocity contouring. It accepts input parameters like position, velocity, and acceleration to generate the trajectory. Also, it has a preprogrammed PID filter with feedforward velocity and acceleration that can be scaled, as well as a bias offset.

Additionally, the MC3110 motion processor supports 32-bit position errors. Trace capabilities give designers on-the-fly data storage for analyzing system performance, tuning servo filters, and performing maintenance and diagnostics.

Feedback from an incremental en-coder or an ab-solute encoder or resolver is ac-cepted. And, the chip supports 16-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) or 10-bit, 20-kHz pulse-width modulation (PWM) output signals.

Performance Motion Devices Inc., 12 Waltham St., Lexington, MA 02421; (781) 674-9860; fax (781) 674-9861; e-mail: [email protected]; www.pmdcorp.com.

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About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.