Dear motion specialists,
I am writing on behalf of Paramveer Jain (in CC) who has contacted me with this issue, but as I have never done motion control integration with EPICS, I'd rather throw this ball up than send him into the wrong direction.
He is being tasked with developing EPICS support for a locally developed motor controller.
The hardware setup can be summarized as:
- Moxa embedded TCP-to-serial converter (NE4110S)
- Serial connection (RS-232)
- Homemade motor controller (based on an AT89C52)
- Ark Motion AMS 3630 stepper motor driver.
The controller software talks ASCII in command/response fashion, e.g.:
- Read position (rotary encoder)
Command: STX U <CR>
Response: STX U pppppp <CR>
pppppp = six digit hex (divide by 640 to get millimeter) - Go to position (rotary encoder)
Command: STX P1 sss pppppp <CR>
Response: \06 (ACK)
sss = three digit hex (speed in mm/s multiplied by 240)
pppppp = six digit hex (millimeter multiplied by 640) - ...
What's the best/easiest way to do this? What are the caveats?
Is there a tutorial he could follow?
Is there existing support for another motor that he could start from?
Thanks a lot for your help!
~Ralph