2.9. Thorlabs KCube DC Servo Drive#

Summary:	ThorlabsKCubeDCServo
Type:	Actuator
License:	Licensed under LGPL.
Platforms:	Windows
Devices:	K-Cube Controller for Brushed DC Servo Motors, e.g. KDC101
Author:	M. Gronle

2.9.1. Overview#

ITOM Plugin to be used for interaction with the K-Cube Controller for Brushed DC Servo Motors(e.g. KDC101).

ThorlabsKCubeDCServo is an acutator plugin to control the following integrated devices from Thorlabs:

K-Cube Controller for Brushed DC Servo Motors (e.g. KDC101)

It requires the new Kinesis driver package from Thorlabs and implements the interface Thorlabs.MotionControl.KCube.DCServo.

Please install the Kinesis driver package in advance with the same bit-version (32/64bit) than itom.

This plugin has been tested with the motorized translation stage MTS25-Z8.

2.9.2. Initialization#

The following parameters are mandatory or optional for initializing an instance of this plugin:

serialNo: str, optional
Serial number of the device to be loaded, if empty, the first device that can be opened will be opened

default: “”

connectToKinesisSimulator: int, optional
If 1, a connection to the running Kinesis Simulator is established before starting to search for devices.

Value range: [0, 1], Default: 0

2.9.3. Parameters#

These parameters are available and can be used to configure the ThorlabsKCubeDCServo instance. Many of them are directly initialized by the parameters of the constructor. During the runtime of an instance, the value of these parameters is obtained by the method getParam, writeable parameters can be changed using setParam.

acceleration: {float}: acceleration in real world units (e.g. mm/s^2)
async: {int}: synchronous (0, default) or asynchronous (1) mode
deviceName: {str}, read-only: Description of the device
enableAxis: {int}: If enabled (1, default), power is applied to the motor so it is fixed in position. Else (0), the motor can be freely moved.
firmwareVersion: {str}, read-only: Firmware version of the device
hardwareVersion: {str}, read-only: Hardware version of the device
homingAvailable: {int}, read-only: 1 if actuator supports a home drive, else 0
lockFrontPanel: {int}, read-only: 1 to lock the front panel, else 0 (default)
name: {str}, read-only: Name of the plugin
numaxis: {int}, read-only: Number of axes
serialNumber: {str}, read-only: Serial number of the device
speed: {float}: speed in real world units (e.g. mm/s)
timeout: {float}: timeout for move operations in sec

2.9.4. Usage#

This example shows how to initialized the device in itom and change the position:

serialNo = 2700001
mot = dataIO("ThorlabsKCubeDCServo", serialNo = serialNo)

# execute a home drive to get the zero position
mot.calib(0)

mot.setParam("speed", 2.5) # 2.5 mm/s

mot.setPosAbs(0, 25)  # move to the absolute position 25 mm
mot.setOrigin(0)  # sets the current position to be '0'.
mot.setPosAbs(0, -25)  # moves back to the original position
mot.setPosRel(0, 0.01)  # moves by 10 micrometer
print(mot.getPos(0))  # returns the position of the axis

2.9.5. Simulation#

It is possible to test this plugin based on a simulated controller. To do this, start the Kinesis Simulator first and add a KDC101 DC Servo Drive device. Then, start the itom plugin and set the initial parameter connectToKinesisSimulator.

Usually, modern Thorlabs controllers can automatically request necessary hardware parameters from the connected stage. However, if the load-setting command returns with a warning at startup, this failed and all units are in device units only (not in physical units). In order to overcome this, especially in simulated environments, you have to open the simulated stage (using Kinesis Simulator) at least once with the real Kinesis Software. This software is also able to connect to the simulator, and there, you can bind a real stage to the controller with a certain serial ID. After having done this one time on the computer, the itom plugin should properly load the controller and device with the same serial number.

2.9.6. Compilation#

To compile this plugin, install the Thorlabs KINESIS from https://www.thorlabs.com/software_pages/ViewSoftwarePage.cfm?Code=Motion_Control&viewtab=0 driver package in the same bit-version than itom (32/64bit). Then set the CMake variable THORLABS_KINESIS_DIRECTORY or the environment variable THORLABS_KINESIS_ROOT to the base directory of Kinesis (e.g. C:/Program Files/Thorlabs/Kinesis). The required libraries from Kinesis will automatically be copied to the lib folder of itom.

Kinesis 1.7.0 requires the Microsoft C++ Redistributable 2012.

2.9.7. Changelog#

itom setup 4.1.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.25.
itom setup 4.2.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.28.
itom setup 4.3.0: This plugin has been compiled with Thorlabs Kinesis 1.14.47.