Motion Console Objects

Motion Console divides motion control into several distinct software objects. Some of these objects have direct hardware equivalents, such as Motor objects. Other objects are more abstract and complicated, such as Filter objects. Motion Console provides direct configuration and monitoring of XMP motion control objects, including:

Motion Controller-- A single XMP controller, capable of controlling motion supervisors, and served by a host computer. A Controller folder lists the controllers served by the host computer, of which there may be more than one. However, each Controller demands its own separate motion controller hardware (i.e., one main controller board, with or without an attached expansion board).

Motion Supervisor-- Topmost level of motion control associated with a Controller. Each Motion Supervisor, in turn, has 0 (zero) or more Axes mapped to it.

Axis-- A motion vector associated with either linear (e.g., linear slide), or rotary (e.g., turntable) motion, and associated with a Motion Supervisor. Each Axis has 0 (zero) or more Filters mapped to it.

Filter-- Attributes applied to closed-loop motor control, such as gains and motion algorithms. Each Filter has 0 (zero) or more Motors mapped to it.

Motor-- A motor, which may be either rotary (such as a rotary motor shaft), or linear (such as a linear motor, pneumatic cylinder, hydraulic actuator, etc.).

SERCOS-- Read-only configuration attributes for monitoring SERCOS rings.

Node-- SERCOS nodes. Each Node is associated with a particular SERCOS object.

IDN-- SERCOS identification number. Each IDN object is associated with a particular Node object.

Mapping

"Mapping" means associating one object with another. For example, one axis may have one motor mapped to it (such as a motor-driven leadscrew on a slide), or one axis may have two motors mapped to it (such as a gantry crane).

Frequently, motion designers think of each axis in terms of a single motor; however, the XMP environment allows you to expand this model. For example, the X-Y table on a three-axis machine is simply controlled by two motors, each of which represents a single, independent axis. However, it may be advantageous to add a second motor to each axis, in order to obtain independent, rapid-coarse motion and slow-fine motion. In this model, each axis has two motors associated with it: one coarse, one fine. The choice of when to use what motor is performed by a Filter object, written into the custom application code. If the fine motor is commanded to move to a point outside its range, the filter object can be configured to use the coarse motor to reposition the axis. Once the coarse motor has positioned the axis at its starting point, the filter will switch to the fine motor. This level of flexibility is made possible by object mapping.

Motors 1 and 2 (M1 and M2) are mapped to Axis 1 (A1) on the X-axis. Motors 3 and 4 (M3 and M4) are mapped to Axis 2 (A2) on the Y-axis.

This allows one component to be associated with another by simply dragging one object to another on the computer screen with a mouse.

IMPORTANT! Object mappings, along with all other Motion Console settings, are NOT saved until the Save to Flash Memory function is used on the Object Explorer or object summary window. If you do not save your settings to flash memory, your settings will be lost when the system is powered down, or when the controller is reset.

Before using Motion Console to map objects, it will help to review how the user interface is designed.