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Drive Connectivity

Centralized and Distributed Control

In centralized control, a dedicated motion control card or software task in the main CPU handles path-planning and closes the position and velocity loops. Centralized control can provide an optimal solution for tightly coupled axes e.g. high performance robotic arm. The drive interface is via analog current commands or a high speed network.Distributed control moves all servo loops to the drive. Cabling is simplified, the motion card is eliminated and servo loop performance can be improved. The system CPU now performs path planning and the drives are position slaves synchronized over a moderate speed, low cost network. An alternative implementation of distributed control incorporates path-planning in the drive which now functions as an Indexer or accepts profile parameters for point-to-point motion.

CANopen

CANopen is a highly cost effective implementation of distributed control. In PVT mode, the drive accepts synchronized position/velocity/time points. In profile mode the drive executes a move based on pretransmitted parameters. CANopen also accomodates velocity and torque mode.

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