synApps: ppmac

Module Owner:	Oleg Makarov, Argonne National Laboratory
License:	This software is distributed under EPICS Open License

This page is a home of ppmac. The most recent version of it can be found at www.gmca.aps.anl.gov/PPMAC/.

ppmac provides EPICS driver for Power PMAC programmable 128-axis motion controller by Delta Tau / Omron which is a modular networking system with the ARM CPU operating under Debian Linux. The driver is designed to run in the EPICS virtual IOC residing directly in the controller as one can compile and execute EPICS under Linux. Note that there is an alternative EPICS driver for Power PMAC by DIAMOND Light Source where the IOC resides outside the PMAC controller communicates to it over ssh.

Some features of Power PMAC, all supported by the ppmac driver, are:

capability to perform synchronous coordinated motions of several drives thus allowing for fast on-the-fly scans of motor groups,
modular design with fiber link greatly simplifying cabling,
capability to drive virtually any type of motors -- DC brush & DC brushless servo, stepper, piezo, and etc.
support for both incremental and absolute encoders
provisions to write custom motion programs, define custom servo cycles and generally tweak any motion parameter.
programmable I/O for synchronizing motions with external devices including area detectors.

Power PMAC modules

Figure 1: Power PMAC system

Figure 2: Power PMAC 1040 ARM CPU

Figure 3: Power PMAC optical interface to MACRO ring

Figure 4: Power PMAC MACRO-16 CPU

Figure 5: Power PMAC ACC24e2s 4-axis stepper motor interface

Figure 6: Power PMAC ACC24e2a 4-axis analog motor interface

Figure 7: Power PMAC ACC24e2a-24e2 4-axis analog-digital motor interface

Figure 8: Power PMAC ACC24e3 4-axis universal motor interface (generation-3)

Figure 9: Power PMAC ACC51e 4-channel 4096x encoder interpolator

Figure 10: Power PMAC ACC84e 4-channel absolute encoder interface

Figure 11: Power PMAC ACC65e 24/24-channel digital I/O interface

Figure 12: Power PMAC ACC59e 8/8-channel analog I/O

Power PMAC MEDM/caQtDM screens

Figure 13: Power PMAC coordinate system status and controls

Figure 14: Power PMAC individual motor status and controls

Where to find it

You can download the software from the links in the table below:

Module Version	Release Date	Filename	Notes
R1-0	09/2023	ppmac-R1-0.tgz	Initial beta-release
R2-0	05/2024	ppmac-R2-0.tgz	Added psub upper layer on top of PPMAC for EPICS-level axes

Required Modules

Module Version	Required modules & minimum verions	Required for
R1-0	epics-base-7.07 asyn-4.44	ppmac support ppmac support
R2-0	epics-base-7.07 asyn-4.44 calc-3-7-5 autosave-5-11 busy-1-7-4	ppmac support ppmac support psub support save/restore of psub parametes step scans with scan record

Installation and Building

Configure the PowerPMAC operating system (Debian Linux) using the instructions in the document "Tweaking PowerPMAC Debian OS".
Transfer the EPICS base source to the PowerPMAC flash drive into directory /opt/epics, unpack it, set the EPICS base installation directory to /usr/local/epics/base and compile it the standard way.
Transfer the EPICS asyn source to the PowerPMAC flash drive into directory /opt/epics, unpack it, set the installation directory to /usr/local/epics/asyn and compile it.
Transfer the ppmac distribution file ppmac-RX-Y.tgz (here RX-Y is the release number) to the PowerPMAC flash drive into directory /opt/epics, unpack it and compile.
Edit the configure/RELEASE file and set the paths to your installation of EPICS base.
Run gnumake in the top level directory and check for any compilation errors.
Prepare PowerPMAC using the OMRON/DeltaTau PowerPMAC IDE software, define coordinate systems and motion programs. Then load and save all the settings in the PMAC. This can be done by connecting PMAC ethernet connector to that of a Windows computer where the PowerPMAC IDE software.
Prepare PowerPMAC-related EPICS databases. Some examples of PowerPMAC databases can be found in the distribution.
Prepare IOC startup files to load all the necessary EPICS databases interacting with PowerPMAC -- see examples in the iocBoot/iocppmac/st.cmd file.
Please email to Oleg Makarov so that a record can be kept of what sites are using this software.

In Use

This software was derived from the EPICS support for Turbo PMAC2 UltraLite VME motion controllers originally developed by Oleg Makarov at Argonne National Lab and successfully used for a number of years by several Sectors at the Advanced Photon Source and partially at DIAMOND Light Source.

The ppmac EPICS module is in use at the GM/CA beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source (APS).

Please submit any comments and bug reports to Oleg Makarov