MI Technologies is a world leader in antenna test and measurement systems. MicroE Systems' SmartPrecision encoder software and high performance Mercury 3000 programmable encoder proved invaluable to the successful development of a high-performance dual axis gimbal.
The SmartPrecision Software Advantage
For more than 50 years, MI Technologies has been a world leader in control,
measurement systems and services to the antenna, radome, RCS and component
characterization market. Precision measurement and accuracy are critical
to success when profiling the performance of new designs and customer
equipment… And that's where SmartPrecision software and the Mercury™
3000 programmable encoder made the difference in their new dual-axis precision
gimbal design.
Mark Hudgens, senior mechanical engineer at MI Technologies, was tasked
with designing a two-axis gimbal for the company's latest antenna measurement
system. Small size and ultra-high performance were the design objectives.
The motion platform needed to track with ultra-high resolution and accuracy,
as well as exceptional repeatability.
"After considering alternative technologies and other encoder systems,
we were running out of options," confided Hudgens. He had heard of
the tiny high-performance encoders from MicroE Systems and decided to
give them a try. "The small sensor size was impressive. In fact,
the Mercury 3000 had the only sensor that could easily fit in the available
space. And it was a fraction of the cost of our next best option,"
Hudgens added. Finally, only MicroE Systems' SmartPrecision™ software
provided the flexibility to make this design easy to build and set up
in the development environment.
"We like everything about SmartPrecision software", said Hudgens,
"To start, I don't need a specialized instrument anymore, just an
ordinary laptop to monitor signal quality and to set resolution…
Before, I'd drag out a scope and get an electrical engineer to set it
up. The graphical user interface is awesome…"
SmartPrecision software main Graphical User Interface.
Hudgens' primary complaint with other encoders was that he had to purchase
an interpolator with a fixed multiplier. The M3000 and SmartPrecision software
solved this problem by giving him the ability to program the exact resolution
the system required. "It's very helpful," stated Hudgens.
One feature MI Technologies found particularly valuable was SmartPrecision's
ability to display signal quality. According to Hudgens, SmartPrecision software
gives him a level of certainty not available with any other encoder. "This
is the single most important feature in my opinion. And nobody else does
this to my knowledge. We use SmartPrecision's Lissajous plot to double check
the quality of the encoder installation. It's really great."
MI Technologies uses SmartPrecision Software as a Diagnostic
Tool
Troubleshooting is another area where SmartPrecision software provides valuable
diagnostic assistance. "We were having trouble with this system.
It appeared that the encoder was losing counts," said Hudgens. "I
used SmartPrecision software to monitor our positioner as I ran it through
a series of standard repeatability and accuracy tests. I confirmed that
the encoder was operating just fine. We eventually found the problem elsewhere.
SmartPrecision helped narrow the areas we needed to examine and saved us
a lot of time."
Mark Hudgens is just one of many MicroE Systems' customers who have come
to depend on our innovative encoder products. "Our gimbal now performs
like a champ and we saved thousands of dollars by using MicroE Systems'
programmable encoder and SmartPrecision software. It's an unbeatable combination."