Alizem releases its new COTS Motor Control Software IP for Servo-Drives applications on Altera FPGAs

Quebec City (CANADA), November 8th 2012. Alizem is proud to announce the release of its commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Motor Control software IP product targeted for Servo-Drives applications and designed for use with Altera® low-power, low-cost Cyclone® FPGAs. This solution offers significant benefits to custom inverter-fed electric motor drive system designers, as outlined below:

• Evolvable software IP based on vector control technique (also known as FOC) and optimized for servo drives applications requiring high-dynamic performances such as robotics and powertrains.
• Easy-to-use application programming interface (API) for easy configuration and operation including multiple debug modes for power stage, transducer and system protection verification for early bug detection.
• Fully encapsulated VHDL and software components for easy instantiation of multiple motor control drivers for multi-axis applications.

According to Dr. Marc Perron, President at Alizem, “A typical system architecture often include an FPGA to integrate human-machine interface (HMI) and communications functions on the same device, co-processing with second device for motor control functions. Using Alizem IP, system designers can integrate all functions on one FPGA device and benefit from increased design flexibility, reduced component count, smaller system footprint and lower total cost of ownership”. Dr. Perron adds, “Since Alizem solutions are tailored for specific motor control applications requirements such as industrial servo-drives for packaging equipment and multi-axis robotics, this enables our customers to ship products with optimal motor control every time and keep focus on their specific differentiation, their product development schedule and budget.”

According to Brian Jentz, director of the Industrial and Automotive Business Unit at Altera Corporation, "Alizem’s COTS Motor Control Software and IP solutions help accelerate the design of motor control systems and significantly reduces time to market. Systems built with Alizem IP on Altera FPGAs can easily integrate industrial Ethernet communications and support evolving standards alongside a designer’s own custom logic into a single FPGA. This allows the use of a common platform across multiple designs and product lines and lowers a customer’s total cost of ownership over time.”

Alizem ships its Motor Control IP for Servo-Drives application as an Altera QSys component and a motor control software API/library running on Altera’s Nios® II processor. Teams with little to no experience in FPGA designs or motor controls can be up and running in less than 30 minutes, which allows them to focus on their product design right out of the box. This IP is packaged with complete documentation, reference design and integration support services. Interested parties can now download an evaluation demo directly at Alizem Boutique (shop.alizem.com).

About Alizem inc.

Alizem is a vendor-independent embedded software company specialized in power electronics applications such as motor control and solar power conversion. Alizem’s off-the-shelf software solutions are designed to be quickly and easily integrated by non-power electronics experts and meant to provide significant cost, risk and time-to-market reduction in the development of custom power electronics systems. Alizem is a proud member of the Altera Design Service Network (DSN) since 2008.