PMD Introduces the New MC3110 and Pilot Family of Motion Processors

Performance Motion Devices Inc. (PMD, Lexington, MA) announced the release of a family of motion processors called Pilot, which offer single-axis control in a single chip. The MC3110, the first of the new products to become available, is designed to control brushed servo motors. PMD also plans to include a single-chip motion processor for brushless servo motors in the Pilot family soon.

The chip is a 132-pin device, employing surface-mount CMOS technology and powered by 5V. The motion processor is driven by a host microprocessor through an asynchronous bi-directional serial port, giving users the ability to offload resource-intensive motion control functions from the application's host.

The MC3110 provides user-selectable profiling modes including, S-curve, trapezoidal and velocity contouring. Driven by the host microprocessor, the motion-control chip accepts input parameters such as position, velocity and acceleration to generate the trajectory. In addition, the chip also has a pre-programmed PID filter with feed-forward velocity as well as acceleration that can be scaled and a bias effect. In addition, the chip supports 16-bit DAC or 10-bit, 20kHz PWM compatible output signals.

Engineering samples of the MC3110 are now available. Pricing for the MC3110 is $28 each in OEM quantities.