Accelerating the Motor Control Revolution Using New MCU and FPGA Solutions

By Warren Miller - Avnet, Feb. 16, 2016 – 

Motors provide the muscle for electronic controls to interact with the physical world. Whether in transportation, process control, robotics, appliances or even just opening a garage door, motors are the primary movers in our connected and controlled world. Electric motors account for a large percentage - some estimates put them at as much as 45 percent* - of our total global electricity consumption, so it's no wonder that recent motor control advances have focused on efficiency improvements over the lifetime of the motor. Advanced motor control algorithms use a significant amount of processing power, so many of these algorithms require MCUs and FPGAs with advanced processing capabilities.

Fortunately, a new generation of motor control solutions is leveraging not only advanced hardware features, but are also completing development environments with boards and software to dramatically simplify even complex motor control algorithm applications. Field-oriented control (FOC) and brushless DC (BLDC) motor control approaches illustrate device features, vendor-provided development platforms and advanced software support now available for motor control applications.

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