• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Electrical Engineering News and Products

Electronics Engineering Resources, Articles, Forums, Tear Down Videos and Technical Electronics How-To's

  • Products / Components
    • Analog ICs
    • Connectors
    • Microcontrollers
    • Power Electronics
    • Sensors
    • Test and Measurement
    • Wire / Cable
  • Applications
    • Automotive/Transportation
    • Industrial
    • IoT
    • Medical
    • Telecommunications
    • Wearables
    • Wireless
  • Resources
    • DesignFast
    • Digital Issues
    • Engineering Week
    • Oscilloscope Product Finder
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • White Papers
    • Women in Engineering
  • Videos
    • Teschler’s Teardown Videos
    • EE Videos and Interviews
  • Learning Center
    • EE Classrooms
    • Design Guides
      • WiFi & the IOT Design Guide
      • Microcontrollers Design Guide
      • State of the Art Inductors Design Guide
    • FAQs
    • Ebooks / Tech Tips
  • EE Forums
    • EDABoard.com
    • Electro-Tech-Online.com
  • 5G

What you need to know about MCUs for servo control

November 18, 2019 By Majeed Kamran

A servo motor, used for position feedback of angular rotation, applies pulse width modulation (PWM) signals for precise control over motion. Industrial design engineers can change the rotation angle and direction of the motor by varying the width of the PWM signal, and here, the role of MCU, which generates the PWM signal, inevitably becomes crucial.

A microcontroller generates a PWM signal using a timer, and subsequent configurations can be modified to rotate the arm of a servo, a specific class of motor often used to create closed-loop control systems in industrial robots, CNC machinery, and automated manufacturing.

A servo motor employs position feedback to control its motion and final position, and that demands a relatively sophisticated microcontroller. On the other hand, general-purpose processors can be problematic because of their use of cache memory; run time varies greatly in the cache memory, and that can impact the servo motor control.

MCUs for servo control

Figure 1: Industrial robots demand faster speed and optimum servo performance to improve production efficiency (Image: Renesas Electronics).

 

So, what distinguishes servo control MCUs from other MCUs? What are the specific traits that servo control MCUs feature as compared to off-the-shelf MCUs? For a start, these MCUs are optimized for industrial robotics and motor control with built-in IP to facilitate advanced control for servo motors.

Anatomy of servo control MCUs

The dedicated hardware accelerators inside MCUs facilitate high-speed position calculations required for implementing servo control in industrial robots and other factory automation applications. The current control loop calculations performed in time frames as small as 1.5 µs also allow developers to create low-cost servo systems.

Figure 2: The block diagram of a servo control MCU showing timers and accelerator in the second column from left (Image: Renesas Electronics).

It’s worth mentioning that servo control calculations can also be performed in software, but that creates an excessive compute overhead for the main MCU or MPU. At the same time, however, the fully hardware-based calculations can be a hindrance in implementing unique control operations.

That calls for MCUs that come with built-in IPs that bolster the calculation speed and precision of interrupt handling for specific motor control applications. The motor control MCUs with dedicated hardware accelerator IP can perform the complex, high-speed computations required for servo control in robots and other industrial automation equipment.

While this article has attempted to explain how servo control MCUs can improve manufacturing efficiencies in industrial environments, it’s worth mentioning what’s new and latest in this realm. First, servo control MCUs are incorporating hardware cryptography to ensure security and reliability in industrial designs.

Then a new breed of AI algorithms is enabling developers to employ mechanisms such as motor control failure detection with a single MCU. In short, servo control MCUs are going through a rapid make-over to address the new industrial design requirements in the rapidly emerging Internet of Things (IoT) era.

DesignFast Banner version: 22e7f758

Filed Under: FAQ, Featured, Microcontroller Tips Tagged With: FAQ

Primary Sidebar

EE Training Center Classrooms

EE Classrooms

Featured Resources

  • EE World Online Learning Center
  • CUI Devices – CUI Insights Blog
  • EE Classroom: Power Delivery
  • EE Classroom: Building Automation
  • EE Classroom: Aerospace & Defense
  • EE Classroom: Grid Infrastructure
Search Millions of Parts from Thousands of Suppliers.

Search Now!
design fast globle

R&D World Podcasts

R&D 100 Episode 7
See More >

Current Digital Issue

April 2022 Special Edition: Internet of Things Handbook

How to turn off a smart meter the hard way Potential cyber attacks have a lot of people worried thanks to the recent conflict in Ukraine. So it might be appropriate to review what happened when cybersecurity fi rm FireEye’s Mandiant team demonstrated how to infiltrate the network of a North American utility. During this…

Digital Edition Back Issues

Sponsored Content

Positioning in 5G NR – A look at the technology and related test aspects

Radar, NFC, UV Sensors, and Weather Kits are Some of the New RAKwireless Products for IoT

5G Connectors: Enabling the global 5G vision

Control EMI with I-PEX ZenShield™ Connectors

Speed-up time-to-tapeout with the Aprisa digital place-and-route system and Solido Characterization Suite

Siemens Analogue IC Design Simulation Flow

More Sponsored Content >>

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • Help with Verilog replicate operator
  • ESP Serial Communication Problem with RS232
  • How to mark layer comments in CAP of spef file using StarRC
  • MAX5389 resetting by noise
  • Simulation of resonator in HFSS

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • Will Header and socket hold this PCB OK?
  • Relaxation oscillator with neon or...
  • software PWM
  • MPlab8 remove page breaks in list file
  • ATOM Diy module

Oscilloscopes Product Finder

Footer

EE World Online

EE WORLD ONLINE NETWORK

  • 5G Technology World
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Battery Power Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • DesignFast
  • EDABoard Forums
  • Electro-Tech-Online Forums
  • Engineer's Garage
  • Microcontroller Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • Wire & Cable Tips

EE WORLD ONLINE

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Lee's teardown videos
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About Us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookConnect with us on LinkedIn Follow us on YouTube Add us on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy