Select a Step ......................................................... REQUIREMENTS AND SAFETY Introduction Required Materials Safety Precautions Hardware Requirements and Installation FAQs for Motion Console ––––––––––––––––––––––– MOTION CONSOLE Object-oriented Motion Control Motion Console Objects Motion Console User Interface – Main Motion Console Frame – Adding a New Controller – Object Summary Windows – Object Explorer – Object List Configuration Dialog Boxes Configuring New Systems with Motion Console – Getting Started with Motion Console – Saving Parameter Settings – Associating Objects with Motion Console – Configuring a Motion Supervisor – Mapping One Object to Another – Removing (Deleting) a Mapped Object – Safety Reminders Motion Console Objects – Controller Object – Motion Supervisor Object – Axis Object – Filter Object – Motor Object – SynqNet Object – SqNode Object – I/O Object Command Line Options Reading Versions with Motion Console Troubleshooting

Controller Objects

Within the Motion Console program, Controller objects occupy the highest level on the motion control tree. This prominent software position reflects the hardware reality: each controller represents a separate, physical piece of hardware having local control. Moreover, each controller is capable of operating multiple motion supervisors, each with its own subordinate array of axes, motors, etc.

If you have not already added a Controller, please see the Add Controller section.

Controller-Client Configuration

A Controller is physically connected with a host computer via PCI bus. Hosts may be linked to clients, which allows virtually unlimited configuration combinations.

Each controller in a machine is assigned a unique device identification number by the operating system. Motion Console uses this number to communicate with the controller. When all controllers reside within a single host computer, Motion Console requires only Controller numbers (0, 1, 2, etc.) to differentiate between them. When controllers reside in separate client computers linked through a network to the Motion Console host, each controller must also be assigned a unique IP address and Port Number.

Controller Placement on PCI Buses

PCI bus architecture imposes constraints which must be observed during card installation. When adding controllers to Motion Console, each controller board is assigned a physical location on the PCI bus in the form of a Controller Number. This is a device index number beginning at "0," which indexes with each new addition of a controller board, and which ignores non-MEI devices. Motion Console uses the device index number to associate configuration/status information with a particular controller.

Adding, removing or rearranging PCI devices can cause a motion controller device number to change. For systems with only a single controller, this is not a problem. For systems with multiple controllers, Motion Console will not know whether the device index to the physical controller map has changed. This is because some data is stored in the Motion Console initialization file and is associated with the device number. The following data will be associated with the wrong controller in Motion Console if the device number changes:

WARNING! When using Motion Console with multiple controller systems, make sure you know exactly which physical controller is associated with which device index. Be sure to always verify controller-to-device index relationships before commanding any motion.

The Controller Summary window lists Controller attributes in the tab pages: Actions, Config, Version, Stats, and Recorders.

Configuration Attributes: "Action" Tab Page

Reset – Resets the controller to the power-up configuration saved in flash memory.

Refresh – Refreshes display to reflect any external modifications.

FW Upload – Uploads Flash memory to the firmware file. See the Uploading Firmware section earlier in this chapter for more information.

FW Download – Downloads the firmware file to Flash memory. See the Downloading Firmware section earlier in this chapter for more information.

Reset Dynamic Memory – Returns the controller’s dynamic memory to the default values and re-initializes the SynqNet network.  All dynamic configurations modified by the user will be lost.

Save All to Flash – Copies all configurations and network topology from the controller’s dynamic memory to flash memory.  When the controller is reset or powered off/on, the flash configurations will be loaded into the controller’s dynamic memory.

Reset Flash – Returns the controller’s dynamic memory and flash memory to the default values and re-initializes the SynqNet network.  All dynamic and flash configurations modified by the user will be lost.

Download Firmware – Downloads the firmware file to Flash memory. See the Downloading Firmware section earlier in this chapter for more information.

Upload Firmware – Uploads Flash memory to the firmware file. See the Uploading Firmware section earlier in this chapter for more information.

Remove – Removes controller from Motion Console controller list.

Controller Configuration Attributes: "Config" Tab Page

User Label – User-defined label for the object.

View Sub-objects – Shows all sub-objects for the Controller. For more information, see the View Sub-object section.

User Version – User defined version. See MPIControlConfig.

Sample Rate – Sample Rate (samples/sec). See MPIControlConfig.

MS Count – Number of enabled Motion Supervisor objects. See MPIControlConfig.

Axis Count – Number of enabled Axis objects. See MPIControlConfig.

Filter Count – Number of enabled Filter objects. See MPIControlConfig.

Motor Count – Number of enabled Motor objects. See MPIControlConfig.

Capture Count – Number of enabled Capture objects. See MPIMotorInfo

Recorder Count – Number of enabled Recorder objects. See MPIControlConfig.

User Limit Count – Number of enabled User Limit objects. See MPIControlConfig.

Sequence Count – Number of enabled Program Sequence objects. See MPIControlConfig.

SynqNet Tx Time – The time at which the SynqNet data is transmitted. The Tx Time value represents the percentage of the sample period. This should be set in such a way that the transmissions occur after the firmware has completed its foreground cycle. (0-100%).

For more information, see SynqNet Tx Time.

Available Memory – The amount of external memory available on the controller. The maximum value for Record Count and Axis Count is limited by the available memory.

Configuration Attributes: "Counts" Tab Page

The Counts page shows the number of allocated object in the controller memory:

Pressing the “Modify Counts…” button will open the Dynamic and Enabled Object Counts window.  From here you can change the number of objects allocated in the controller’ dynamic memory and the number of objects enabled.  Changing the allocation will clear the controller’s dynamic memory and re-allocate the memory.  Thus, all user modified configurations will be lost.  It is a good idea to allocate all your objects first, before configuring any of them.

Tip: For best controller performance, only enable the objects you are actually using. 

Configuration Attributes: "Version" Tab Page

Model – They type of motion controller

Type – Currently either "Device" or "Client." See MPIControlInfoHardware.

Number – The device number of the controller on the bus.

Address – The device driver for "Device" type controllers, the IP address for "Client" type controllers.

Port – Port for "Client" type controllers only.

Firmware Dev. ID – Firmware Development ID.

Firmware Version – Firmware Version. See MPIControlInfoFirmware.

Firmware Revision – Firmware Revision. See MPIControlInfoFirmware.

Firmware Option – Firmware Option. See MPIControlInfoFirmware.

Configuration Attributes: "Stats" Tab Page

Record Count 0-63 – Number of data records per enabled data recorder object for a controller. The controller's recorder object handles collecting and buffering any data in controller memory. The enabled data recorders can collect up to a total of 32 addresses each sample. See MPIControlConfig.