Motion ICs Make Their Move 

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

Engineers that use motion control in their products are used to making decisions. Should step motors or servo motors be used? Will the system be direct drive or geared? These kinds of choices are what make motion control interesting as well as challenging. Motion controllers are the electronics associated with driving motion control actuators, and are no exception to this rule. In fact, the variety of choices available in the last several years for motion electronics has expanded at an impressive rate, resulting in cost savings and novel control architectures.

A direct comparison of motion controllers from past to present shows that costs are indeed dropping, but designers are finding that even larger savings are coming from changes in the architecture of the controller. This includes the much-discussed trend toward network-based (distributed) control, but perhaps equally important is the availability of new motion ICs which make it possible to integrate previously separate control functions more compactly and easily.

This article will discuss choices in motion control electronics with a focus on cost savings that can result in integrating functions that were previously separated. Emphasis will be placed on recent developments in motion ICs that have made these new architectures possible.