Motion control Aerotech pushes the limits of precision at Control Stuttgart

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The motion control and positioning systems specialist Aerotech will be exhibiting at Control in Stuttgart, the international trade fair for industrial quality assurance, from 6 to 9 May 2025. The focus will be on high-precision solutions for analysing surfaces, high-performance motion control systems and the integration of advanced measurement processes.

At Control in Stuttgart, Aerotech will be showcasing the functional enhancements to the Automation1 motion control platform in release 2.10. With innovative features such as conditional plot display, improved access control and optimised galvo calibration features, the company offers a comprehensive machine control solution.

Special innovations include:

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• Conditional Plotting: Conditional Plotting is a new feature in the data collection configurations. It is managed primarily through the Configure Signals and Edit Plot dialogs. Users will set up plot conditions to do things like change the color of a position signal when an error signal exceeds some threshold. Or hide a signal when a digital input is off.

• Access Control/Secure Communication -- Access control and secure communication has been extended to drive-based controllers (out of beta).

• Laser Control at 20khz: This is for controlling laser output at 20kHz granularity on servo axes, allowing users a way to synchronize to I/O at rates higher than 1 kHz for servos using Position Synchronised Output (PSO).

• Galvo Calibration: The Galvo Calibration module has some new improvements/features, making it easier for customers doing Mark & Measure and allowing users to add a new calibration data tables to the Galvo 2D Axis Calibration file.

• Tuning Improvements: Current Loop FF Configuration (allows customers to customize their current loop feedfoard ie. increase current loop bandwidth by adding a Resistance and Inductance feedforward term to the current loop), Tuning Recipe Runtime (allow customers to create and upload their own custom tuning recipes).

• Other Improvements: Help file updates, PWM Drive Improvements, API Improvements (.NET & Linux)

With the fully customisable Machine Apps HMI development tool, Automation1 expands the possibilities for machine control with a powerful user interface. The user-friendly solution allows users to create individual HMIs without programming knowledge, configure modules via drag-and-drop and customise interfaces to their own corporate design. “The bottom line is that Machine Apps significantly reduces development time and provides machine builders with a flexible, customised solution that enables both intuitive control and quick integration into existing systems,” says Brett Heintz, Controls Product Management Group Leader at Aerotech.

Peak Metrology: Precise measurement technology for large-format

Aerotech subsidiary Peak Metrology will also be at the stand to present a high-performance positioning system developed in cooperation with metrology specialist Keyence. Peak Metrology develops standard and customised equipment for high-precision measurement and inspection processes.

“The market for digital microscopes is booming, but existing systems are quickly reaching their limits,” explains RJ Hardt, President of Peak Metrology. “We offer our customers solutions that can also be used to measure larger parts.”

The demo system at Control is an automated, non-contact 3D surface measuring device. It combines state-of-the-art laser line scanning technology with high-precision positioning stages for linear and rotary movements. The integrated Peak CaptureUI data acquisition and measurement software as well as the Peak Image topography analysis software enable detailed 3D surface profilometry and analysis in the micrometre range.

Thanks to its versatility, the system is ideal for precisely measuring and analysing surfaces of varying size and complexity in laboratory and production environments. The high-speed data acquisition almost reaches the fundamental limits of measurement accuracy and reliability. This is realised by combining first-class motion control devices with industry-leading measurement sensors and user friendly software tools.

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