Motion Control Architectures

Chuck Lewin, President & CEO of Performance Motion Devices (download as PDF)

When engineers think of advances in motion control technology, they usually think of faster motors, improved accuracy, or seemingly neverending improvements in MOSFET efficiency. While these advances are important, equally important are changes that have come in less publicized areas, particularly in the architecture of the motion controller.

This article will examine some of these trends, and detail the four major motion control architectures in use today, two of which can be traced back to earlier motion control approaches, and two of which are more recent additions.