Standalone EtherCAT Master Controller Handles High-Level Machine Control Tasks

The EtherCAT master controller operates complex machine control tasks such as application programs, communication with the host PC or HMI, safety and error handling and multi-axis motion profile generation. The SPiiPlus NTM can control up to 32 axes of fully synchronized motion, with all real time control tasks handled by slave drives.

 The SPiiPlus NTM controls the following ACS slave modules to provide additional drive and I/O capabilities:

• MC4Udc - up to 8 axis drive chassis for servo/stepper motors
• UDMnt - up to 2 axis drive module for servo/stepper motors
• SDMnt - up to 8 axis stepper drive module
• PDMnt - up to 4 axis Pulse/Direction Interface module
• IOMnt - up to 32/32 digital I/O module

The SPiiPlus NTM controller can control any third party EtherCAT drive or I/O modules, which are qualified by ACS Motion Control.

The SPiiPlus NTM is supported by the ACSPL+ motion programming language and a set of software tools, such as the SPiiPlus MMI Application Studio and API for host application development. These tools include a full PC-based controller simulator that greatly reduces the cost of ownership and time-to-market for OEMs, system integrators and end users.