Absolute Breakpoints

Absolute position breakpoints allow you to trigger external activities as the motors reach specified positions. For example, if you need to use an image acquisition device to capture an image from a certain position while the device under test is in continuous motion, the motion controller must be able to trigger the image acquisition device as it reaches those positions. The current position is continuously compared against the specified breakpoint position by the encoder circuitry to produce a latency of less than 100 ns.

After a breakpoint triggers, you must re-enable it for the breakpoint to work again. In certain cases, such as buffered and periodic breakpoints, the motion controller automatically re-enables the breakpoints.

The implementation for absolute breakpoints is divided into the buffered breakpoint and single position breakpoint methods.

Note  All breakpoints can be affected by jitter in the motion control system. For example, if you have a very small breakpoint window, the jitter in the motion control system could cause the position to change enough to reach the breakpoint when a breakpoint is not intended. Increase the size of the breakpoint window to compensate for system jitter.