A Novel Speed Control Algorithm with Programmable Timer for Embedded Motion Control System

The goal of this work is to present a useful speed control algorithm applied for embedded motion control system. A programmable timer is employed to generate pulses for controlling a stepping motor or a servo motor with pulse interface driver. The pulse frequency, which determines the motor speed, is adjusted by modifying the setting value of timer's period register with the proposed algorithm in the paper. And by adopting a hardware timer, the method can achieve a fine performance but a very little cost in computing. A simulation on the method was carried out with Matlab, and the results show that the speed-time plot is very smooth during acceleration and deceleration stages, thus the dynamic shock in working mechanism excitated by speed turning points can be eliminated a lot. Furthermore, based on the algorithm, a prototype controller with DSP TMS320LF2407A was implemented, and the experiment results on the prototype controller are identical with the simulation analysis. Therefore, the algorithm provides a practical speed control solution for embedded servo system with low cost and high performance.