ULTIMET ADVANCED motion controller

Embedded real-time operating system for maximum flexibility and performance

The ULTIMET ADVANCED is a powerful and versatile multi-axis motion controller reinforcing the existing UltimET family product portfolio from the high-end side. With the ULTIMET ADVANCED, not only ETEL brings a motion controller with outstanding intrinsic performance, but it brings also on the market a high level of flexibility in controlling advanced motion system with strategies that one can shape very precisely to match dedicated needs of various applications.

This motion controller is fitted with a quad-processor from which one core is fully dedicated to the user for running the so called “Customer Software Module” (CSM). CSM is executed in a real-time operating system (namely FreeRTOS) that allows implementation of user-designed control algorithms and/or diverse functionalities based on provided EDI (ETEL Device Interfacing). 

The ULTIMET ADVANCED can also host ETEL made plug-ins called “ETEL Software Modules” (ESM) that provide enhancements to ETEL motion system platforms. Thanks to the multi-core structure, ESM operates without compromising the user’s available computation power.

The user core is fitted with an embedded version of EDI so that the user can code “from the ULTIMET ADVANCED” as he was used to code from his own computer. It has direct and full access to a TCP/ IP connection and one standard Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) connection to communicate with external devices. In addition, the user has access to local storage through an SD-Card. All this allows local or remote data storage without impacting the motion control being executed in parallel.

Naturally, all this is provided on top of the basic function expected from a motion controller, which is connecting your multi-axes motion system to the machine control PC in a fast and time deterministic manner no matter the numbers of devices present on the communication bus. The ULTIMET ADVANCED supports by default the interpolation mode, enabling the execution of interpolated trajectories on 2 groups of up to 4 interpolation axes (X, Y, Z and T directions) with a very fast cycle time (100 μs) and each interpolation axis may represent several position controller axes.

The ULTIMET ADVANCED is a standalone “box format” motion controller that has the same footprint and mounting principle as the AccurET48 position controller so this enable easy mounting and possibility to upgrade existing configurations with minimal efforts.

ULTIMET ADVANCED brings you the most value added when process requires...

  • ... More computation power

“Is your process throughput and/or performance limited by the fact some time critical tasks have to be executed on the machine PC?”

In that case, the ULTIMET ADVANCED brings more computation power within the ETEL real-time control architecture than any other motion controller in the ETEL portfolio. It has the advantage to be able to run complex computations/algorithm locally, thus saving communication time and latencies related to the former use of a PC to execute these time critical tasks.

  • ... More data processing

“Would your process gain in having more data processing/logging done at controller level?”

The ULTIMET ADVANCED real-time operating system allows the implementation of local data (pre-) processing without any impact on the precise motion control of the machine that is occurring in parallel. In fact, being the TransnET master, it is very easy for the ULTIMET ADVANCED to acquire any type of user selected information coming from the AccurET position controllers through Real Time Values (RTV). This data could be either “process-related” and locally (pre-) formatted, or “control-related” to typically become health-monitoring or logging information. This information can then be either stored locally in the SD-Card or shared with the main PC via a dedicated channel (thus not impacting at all the motion control performance and timings).

  • ... More interfacing

“Would your machine benefit from direct interfacing of process related tools with the motion controller?“

The extended interfacing capabilities of the ULTIMET ADVANCED allows the user to add many more sensing devices directly in the control loop while it required a connection to main PC in the past (i.e. time lost). In fact, with dedicated TCP/IP connection, pre-configured SPI channel, one can interface the ULTIMET ADVANCED with devices such as temperature sensors, gap sensors, cameras, mapping databases, … and use their inputs in real-time to influence the motion control strategy of the system accordingly. Both performance and throughput would be highly improved.

  • ... Free real-time operating system

“Are you forced to use an expensive Real-time Operating System to handle time critical tasks on top of your Windows platform?”

The ULTIMET ADVANCED embedded operating system is free! In multiple time-critical processes, users are forced to invest in either a dedicated HW (extra PC) or allocate some processor cores on their PC to run a real-time operating system. Such architectures usually involve high hidden costs in both development tools & support licensing. Using the ULTIMET ADVANCED for the real-time part of the process would save these costs by moving the real-time computation inside the motion controller.
The presence of an embedded real-time operating system naturally calls for higher-level programming skills on the user side. To support this, ETEL made available some code samples and project templates that will allow users to start operating ULTIMET ADVANCED from an existing and working code structure.

DescriptionData sheet
ULTIMET ADVANCED       

 Refer to the Motion Control catalog or ask for the corresponding technical manual for more information.

Use cases

The ULTIMET ADVANCED open core architecture can be used in multiple manners to increase process performance, capabilities and/or reliability. Click on the following use case images for more information.