Performance Motion Devices Prodigy Series User Manual page 29

Magellan
Magellan
When located on a host controller, the user's code communicates via the Serial, CANbus, or Ethernet link to the
Prodigy/CME card. Either VB-Motion or C-Motion can be used to communicate to the card, and the choice of
software tools to compile and debug C code is typically determined by the developer. The advantages of a 'host-
centered' machine controller approach are that software sequences can be centralized, and the user's code has
convenient access to the PC's keyboard, mouse, or touch screen user interface facilities.
When located in the Prodigy/CME PC/104 card, the user's code communicates directly to the resources available on
the card such as the Magellan Motion Processor. This has speed advantages both in communicating with those
resources, and in real time code execution predictability.
Another feature of locating code on the card is that the C-Motion Engine can be programmed to receive or send
commands to the Prodigy/CME's PC/104 bus, serial, CANbus, or Ethernet ports. In this way the user's application
code, downloaded onto the card, forms a local machine controller that can be used to control devices attached to the
Prodigy/CME card, thereby unburdening PC-based software, and the PC's network connection hardware, from this
task.
By supporting application code on the host controller as well as downloaded directly on the card, the user is provided
with multiple options for optimizing the control architecture of his machine, and locating his software on the hardware
platform that will best match his machine's operational and performance requirements.
1.12.2 C-Motion Engine
The C-Motion Development Tools Manual provides a complete description of how to create C-Motion code that can be
downloaded onto the Prodigy/CME PC/104's C-Motion Engine.
The C-Motion Engine development environment operates on the PC. Code is edited, compiled, linked, downloaded,
and monitored via programs that reside on the PC. Systems which have high level PC-based code concurrently sending
commands to the Prodigy card can locate that code on the same PC as the one used for C-Motion code development,
or on a separate PC.
All of these considerations and much more are discussed in the C-Motion Development Tools Manual, which includes a
convenient Getting Started section that introduces the C-Motion Engine IDE (Integrated Development
Prodigy/CME PC/104 User's Guide
C-Motion
Engine
C-Motion
Engine
User
Application
Code
System
Host
Controller
User
Application
Code
System
Host
Controller
Installation
1
Figure 1-6:
Two Ways to
Locate the
Code on the
Prodigy/CME
PC/104 Card
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