An elegant and speedy cross platform motion controller for AMCI SMD series stepper motors and ANG1E Networked Stepper Drives.
Designed as a portable motion controller for AMCI SMD series integrated stepper motors and networked drives, SMD_Control_Server (SMDCS) is a socket-based motion control server that follows a handful of rules:
- Be fast - SMDCS is written in C, so it is fast and small and can be used on a number of hosts.
- Be portable - Written using portable ANSI (ish) C, SMDCS has minimal external dependencies, and should compile on all hosts.
- Be easy to integrate - SMDCS uses a socket interface and takes simple text commands. Control SMD/ANG1E motors/drives with anything from telnet to a snazzy iOS mobile client.
More information on AMCI SMD series steppers may be found on AMCI's website
More information on AMCI ANG1E product may be found here.
Click on the screenshot below for a video of the server in action!
As of right now, SMDCS works only using Modbus/TCP. If you are willing to help out by reversing Ethernet/IP and contributing to a stack, let me know.
Also, SMDCS only supports the non-DLR (Device Level Ring) AMCI SMD motors. The Modbus implementation on the DLR motors is non-compatible with libmodbus.
SMDCS only supports one client connection at a time. One motion controller == one axis of motion. If you want to run multiple axes of motion from one machine, spawn however many SMDCS processes you would like all on different ports.
This is a labor of love (and insanity). If you have questions, comments, concerns, bugs, rants, etc. please post a bug or start a discussion. Alternatively, you can contact me privately and I will definitely respond.
This SOFTWARE PRODUCT is provided by 3ML LLC "as is" and "with all faults." 3ML LLC makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning the safety, suitability, inaccuracies, typographical errors, or other harmful components of this SOFTWARE PRODUCT. There are inherent dangers in the use of any software, and you are solely responsible for determining whether this SOFTWARE PRODUCT is compatible with your equipment and other software installed on your equipment. You are also solely responsible for the protection of your equipment and your personnel, and 3ML LLC will not be liable for any damages you may suffer in connection with using, modifying, or distributing this SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
In other words, use this at your own risk. And TEST TEST TEST.
Also, this software is not endorsed or supported in any way by Advanced Micro Controls Inc (AMCI). As such, no warranty is either implied or offered by AMCI. SMD is a trademark of AMCI used with permission.
A C compiler (GCC is probably your best bet, honestly)
- Clone the cJSON Git repository into a directory where you can build the library. For this purpose, you will be installing cJSON as a shared library.
Once inside of the cJSON directory, execute the following commands (they will build the library and install it into /usr/local/lib and /usr/local/include/cjson):
# make all
# sudo make install
- Install libmodbus.
Similar to cJSON, you will need to download the libmodbus source code, extract it, enter the directory, and execute the following commands:
# ./configure
# sudo make install
- In the SMD_Server/SMD_Server directory, execute the following commands:
# ./configure
# make
# sudo make install
-
Your executable is at /usr/local/bin/smd_server.
-
Optional - build documentation. This program comes with built-in documentation generated by Doxygen. If you would like to use it, you will have to first install Doxygen, and then use Doxygen to build the documentation:
# sudo apt-get install doxygen
# cd docs/
# doxygen Doxyfile
Once the build is complete, there should be a newly created "docs" directory in the docs directory. Just open docs/html/index.html, and you can view the documentation tree.
- READ THE SMD MANUAL, or the ANG1E MANUAL paying special attention to the pinout diagrams. The SMD power connector is NOT protected against reversed wiring.
- Download the AMCI NetConfigurator software and configure your motor's IP address. Do not forget to set the motor to Modbus/TCP!!
- Configure your motor in the configuration screen to fit your application.
- Power cycle the motor.
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING - READ THE DOCUMENTATION at docs/html/index.html.
First and foremost, you will want to start SMDCS. Navigate to where the compiled binary is stored (typically at src/SMDControl), and execute the following the launch the daemon:
# must be root (or use sudo) to run SMDServer
# if you want to see console output, specify -v
$ sudo src/SMDServer -v
# if you want to run as a daemon, specify -d
$ sudo src/SMDServer -d
# if you want to specify the port, use -p (default is port 7000)
$ sudo src/SMDServer -v -p 4242Assuming your motor is hooked-up and configured as recommended before, you should be able to telnet to your server and start issuing commands. Some examples would be:
# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
driveEnable
ENABLE_SUCCESS
disconnect
driveDisable
DISABLE_SUCCESS
disconnect# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
# CAUTION - if the drive is disabled, running resetErrors WILL ENABLE the drive!
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
resetErrors
COMMAND_SUCCESS
disconnect# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
resetErrors
COMMAND_SUCCESS
jogCW,250,250,0,5000 # jog clockwise with 250 accel, 250 decel, 0 jerk, and 5000 steps/rev velocity
COMMAND_SUCCESS
holdMove # stops the move
COMMAND_SUCCESS
disconnect# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
# Also, calling presetMotorPosition,0 sets the motor position to 0. Should do this before every relative move
# for the relativeMove command, positive values move clockwise (CW), negative values move CCW
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
resetErrors
COMMAND_SUCCESS
presetMotorPosition,0
PRESET_POSITION_SUCCESS
relativeMove,1000,250,250,0,5000 # move clockwise 1000 steps with 250 accel, 250 decel, 0 jerk, and 5000 steps/rev velocity
COMMAND_SUCCESS
disconnect# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
resetErrors
COMMAND_SUCCESS
jogCW,250,250,0,5000
COMMAND_SUCCESS
holdMove
COMMAND_SUCCESS
disconnect# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
# After an immediate stop, the drive position must be reset (same with encoder position). You should also run resetErrors!
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
resetErrors
COMMAND_SUCCESS
jogCW,250,250,0,5000
COMMAND_SUCCESS
immedStop
COMMAND_SUCCESS # really should run "resetErrors" after doing an immedStop
disconnect# assuming your motor IP address is 10.20.6.50
$ telnet localhost 7000
connect,10.20.6.50
SMD_CONNECT_SUCCESS
resetErrors
COMMAND_SUCCESS
readInputRegisters
,,0x4408,0xA000,20,78,0,0,0,0,40,0 # more on this string below!
disconnectOkay - that string is a bit dense. Let me explain what it does.
This is a formatted output string showing what AMCI calls the "Input Registers" from the drive. Input Registers show the realtime drive status - which is useful when trying to troubleshoot or write an interface that shows the drive status in a more friendly form.
Reading left to right (starting after the ",," which is a delimiter), the values between the commas stand for:
- Status Word 1
- Status Word 2
- Motor Position (Upper Word - "thousands" of steps")
- Motor Position (Lower Word - "hundreds of steps")
- Encoder Position (Upper Word - "thousands" of steps")
- Encoder Position (Lower Word - "hundreds of steps")
- Captured Encoder Position (Upper Word - "thousands" of steps")
- Captured Encoder Position (Lower Word - "hundreds of steps")
- Programmed Motor Current (divide by 10 for actual current)
- Value of Acceleration Jerk Parameter
For the positions, don't get confused by the upper/lower word stuff. Due to using a 16 bit microprocessor, the AMCI products need to separate larger numbers into smaller parts so that the micro can deal with them.
The format is easy:
- 2,000 is upper word 2, lower word 0
- 156,783 is upper word 156, lower word 783
- 650 is upper word 0, lower word 650
And so on...
As for the status words 1 & 2, you need to convert them to binary (least significant bit on the right) to get the motor status.
For example, 4408 (drop the 0x - just shows the user that the following value is in hex) translates to:
0100 0100 0000 1000
In the corresponding AMCI manuals linked above, the values for the bits may be found under the Input Data Format sections.
For example, using the Status Word 1 guide in the manual:
The binary string 0100 0100 0000 1000 tells us that (remember, least significant bit is on the right):
- Bit 15 - (0) The motor is in command mode
- Bit 14 - (1) The controller is "OK"
- Bit 13 - (0) There is no configuration error
- Bit 12 - (0) There is no command error
- Bit 11 - (0) There is no input error
- Bit 10 - (1) The motor position is invalid and needs preset
- Bit 9 - (0) Tx move segment bit (used in programmed moves)
- Bit 8 - (0) Program move mode bit (used in programmed moves)
- Bit 7 - (0) Move complete bit
- Bit 6 - (0) Drive decelerating bit
- Bit 5 - (0) Drive accelerating bit
- Bit 4 - (0) Homing complete bit
- Bit 3 - (1) Axis stopped
- Bit 2 - (0) Hold state bit
- Bit 1 - (0) CCW move bit
- Bit 0 - (0) CW move bit
Of course, full documentation may be found in docs/html. I highly recommend browsing the docs, as they will provide all of the motion commands available!
Also, check out the examples directory - there are some scripts in there that may be of interest.