The Step-Direction Control System SDC2 is a lowlevel control system which allows to drive our piezo stages in a stepper motor like fashion but with very high resolution. The standard inputs of the SDC2 controller are step and direction signals. Thus, allowing you to profit from the performance of SmarAct stages with only minor changes to your own established control environment. For every step a closed-loop controlled position increment is performed in the specified direction. In order to deliver position to your stepper motor controller the SDC2 supports quadrature signal feedback. Controllers of this product line are available as rack mountable modules, tabletop enclosures or as OEM single board controllers for integration into existing electronics.

The SDC2 receives step-direction signals (1) from a stepper motor controller and generates the necessary signals to drive the stage. The position change of the stage then leads to a sine / cosine signal of the integrated optical sensor (2). This signal is then digitized in a sensor module and transmitted to the SDC2 controller. Based on this position feedback the SDC2 controller performs closed-loop position control and outputs quadrature signals to the stepper motor controller (3)