The Ensemble QDe™ is a high-performance desktop nanopositioning piezo drive designed for seamless use with the Ensemble family of drives and controllers. The QDe connects to any Ensemble controller network enabling coordinated motion between piezo stages and servo axes at much higher rates than other controller or drive products. This power and versatility make the Ensemble QDe ideal for single or multi-axis applications ranging from fundamental scientific research to advanced OEM machine systems.
Featuring a dual-core 456 MHz, double-precision, floating-point DSP, the QDe provides extreme processing power over a wide variety of applications including point-to-point motion, linear and circular interpolation, multi-axis error correction, and autofocusing. High-speed interrupts and data logging capabilities provide a real-time link to external systems. The QDe also features high-speed positioning latching capability and multi-axis position synchronized output (PSO) for generation of pulses based on actual position feedback in applications ranging from laser firing to acquisition system triggering.
Using the latest technology and high-resolution A/D and D/A converters, the QDe enables sub-nanometer positioning resolution at high bandwidths. The QDe capacitive sensor feedback circuitry results in exceptionally low noise levels over the full travel range. Using an Aerotech developed proprietary linearization scheme achieves linearity better than 0.01% over the full travel range in closed-loop mode.
In addition to the four optically-isolated digital inputs, two high-speed digital inputs and four optically-isolated digital outputs, the Ensemble QDe possesses two analog inputs and two analog outputs. One analog input, an 18-bit precision A/D, can be programmatically configured to accept an external feedback sensor or position command. This analog input also allows direct control of the high-voltage power amplifier by an external low-level analog input. Also, one 20-bit D/A analog output can be programmatically configured for position or voltage monitoring at very high resolutions.
