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What? Wireless motion control?

Aug. 16, 2007
If you visit our white paper library you know we try to hold high standards regarding what we let in there, particularly when it comes to vendor-authored stuff. I estimate we actually reject two-thirds to three-quarters of the papers that get subitted for consideration, because they're either a waste of time or a badly disguised product plug. Much to the chagrin of the sales reps, from time to time we reject papers for the "sponsored" channel that, for a fee, lists them at the top of the queue. They have to pass the same quality standards, or they don't get posted either. Occasionally, we get one that raises more questions and interest about its practicality than it does about its technological merit. I just finished reviewing a paper that discusses how multi-axis motion control will be accomplished over a wireless network. I'm pretty sure an informal poll would reveal a clear, if not imposing, majority that believes using wireless networking to do honest-to-goodness motion control is a bad idea, can't be trusted, and would be subject to noise and security problems. "Let wireless do its thing for undemanding data acquistion, and keep away from my motion control apps," might be an expected comment. Maybe not. John Guite, who's division engineering manager for the electromechanical automation group at Parker Hannifin, has been prototyping a patent-pending approach to wireless motion control, which he expects will be a commercial product in a year or so. He explains the premise in the paper. I normally don't pump up vendor white papers, but this one is worth a read. Then come on back here and use the "comments" link to tell us what you think. Are you ready to buy in? Still unconvinced? Here's the link: wireless motion control
If you visit our white paper library you know we try to hold high standards regarding what we let in there, particularly when it comes to vendor-authored stuff. I estimate we actually reject two-thirds to three-quarters of the papers that get subitted for consideration, because they're either a waste of time or a badly disguised product plug. Much to the chagrin of the sales reps, from time to time we reject papers for the "sponsored" channel that, for a fee, lists them at the top of the queue. They have to pass the same quality standards, or they don't get posted either. Occasionally, we get one that raises more questions and interest about its practicality than it does about its technological merit. I just finished reviewing a paper that discusses how multi-axis motion control will be accomplished over a wireless network. I'm pretty sure an informal poll would reveal a clear, if not imposing, majority that believes using wireless networking to do honest-to-goodness motion control is a bad idea, can't be trusted, and would be subject to noise and security problems. "Let wireless do its thing for undemanding data acquistion, and keep away from my motion control apps," might be an expected comment. Maybe not. John Guite, who's division engineering manager for the electromechanical automation group at Parker Hannifin, has been prototyping a patent-pending approach to wireless motion control, which he expects will be a commercial product in a year or so. He explains the premise in the paper. I normally don't pump up vendor white papers, but this one is worth a read. Then come on back here and use the "comments" link to tell us what you think. Are you ready to buy in? Still unconvinced? Here's the link: wireless motion control