Design of Embedded Control System Using Super- Scalar ARM Cortex-A8 for Nano-Positioning Stages in Micro-Manufacturing

A superscalar microcontroller based system is used to control the Physik Instrumente (PI) piezo-electric ultrasonic nano-positioning (PUN) stage for a micro-factory has been proposed by the author. A Linux based development board i.e. BeagleBone containing TI AM3358/9 SoC based on an ARM Cortex-A8 processor core, is suggested to provide visual servo control to the nano-positioning stage. The stages are driven at the tuning parameters which have been identified, tested and validated for robustness under uncertainties. The microcontroller i.e. LPC2478 provides the user with the choices of operations on the 3.2” QVGA LCD screen and the choice can be made by a 5-key joystick. The PUN stage moves in different geometrical patterns as chosen by the user. The stage is placed in the workspace of a femto-second laser. Different patterns are made on the material in question. A camera interfaced to the BeagleBone traces the movements of the nano-positioning stage with the help of image processing routines which can be communicated to enable further control of actions .As compared to the previous works in this area, the user is given the power for position control, real time tracking, and trajectory planning of the actuator. The user interface has been made very easy to comprehend. The repeatability of tasks, portability of the assembly, the reduction in the size of the system, power con-sumption and the human involvement are the major achievements after the inclusion of an embedded platform.