Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Control Software Vs Control Hardware

Sandeep Jindal wrote:

> <snip>My confusion is between Control Software and Control Hardware. I have read somewhere that
> there are Hardware Controllers that directly read the GCode. These
> electronic controllers take input from Parallel port and process based on the input GCode.
>
> My questions:
>
> 1. Is my understanding of Control Software and Control Hardware correct?
> 2. If there are Hardwares that can understand GCode, and software too which process GCode to machine signals(EMC2, Mach3, etc), then what is the industry standard.
> 3. If both are possible, can you please suggest/refer to link which can guide me which approach to use?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards
> Sandeep Jindal
>

Okay, this is a "it depends" problem.

The Control Software can be in hardware! Frequently it is really
firmware in a microcontroller, but it is possible to design hardware to
interpret the G-code directly. I would bet no one has done so in years.

There are intermediate codes which can be sent via serial, parallel,
USB, or Ethernet to a "black box" which runs the motor drivers. What is
in the "black box" hardware controller? If the data sent is in the form
of codes, it is probably a microcontroller or something like an FPGA.
If the data is sent as a pulse stream or as analog signals (yes, some
servo controllers use analog signals), it is probably hardware with
little or no programming. Servo controllers can be pretty solid analog
systems with encoder feedback and a fairly complex loop and a PID
controller.

Did that help?