Experimental Physics and
Industrial Control System

Hi Baeg,

I agree with Guobao about not using VME if this is a new installation, or if you need to purchase a significant number of MAXv modules.

On our beamlines at sector 13 at the APS we have decided to eliminate VME completely, and this project should be complete in the next few months.  We are replacing 8 VME crates which control more than 400 motor axes using MAXv and OMS-58 controllers.

We are replacing the MAXv and OMS-58 with the Galil DMC-4183.  The Galil controllers communicate via Ethernet and have many more capabilities than the MAXv.   In many cases we will continue to use the external stepper driver electronics, and Galils will just send the pulse/direction signals that the VME controllers previously provided.  The cost of the Galils for this mode is about $250/axis, which is very inexpensive.  In other cases we are using on-board stepper drivers and/or servo drivers on the Galils.  These raise the average cost to about $350/axis, which is less than 25% of the cost of similar units like the Newport XPS and the systems from ACS Motion.  

Mark