LinuxCNC

Enhanced Machine Controller, or EMC2, is an open source Linux software system to implement Numerical control capability using general purpose computers to control machines. It is developed by a number of volunteer developers at LinuxCNC.Org

Purpose

EMC2 is a software system for numerical control of machines such as milling machines, lathes, plasma cutters, cutting machines, robots, hexapods, etc. It can control up to 9 axes or joints of a CNC machine using G-code as input.

History

EMC was originally developed by NIST, as a reference implementation of the industry standard language for numerical control of machining operations, RS274-NGC (G-code). The software included the RS274 interpreter driving the motion trajectory planner, real-time motor/actuator drivers and a user interface. It demonstrated the feasibility of an advanced numerical control system using off the shelf PC hardware running Linux, interfacing to various hardware motion control systems.

The demonstration project was very successful and created a community of users and volunteer contributors. Sometime around 2004 these volunteers took the EMC project to the next stage: relocated it to sourceforge.net under the GNU General Public License license and the volunteer community-based development model, and gave it the new name, EMC2.

Platforms

Due to the need of fine grained, precise real time control of machines in motion, EMC requires a platform with Real time capabilities. It uses Linux kernel with real time RTAI extensions. For ease of packaging, Ubuntu LTS (long term support) distribution is supported.

References

• Proctor, F. M., and Michaloski, J., "Enhanced Machine Controller Architecture Overview," NIST Internal Report 5331, December 1993. Available online at ftp://129.6.13.104/pub/NISTIR_5331.pdf

• Albus, J.S., Lumia, R., “The Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC): An Open Architecture Controller for

Machine Tools,” Journal of Manufacturing Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 278-280, September 1994.

• Fred Proctor et al., "Simulation and Implementation of an Open Architecture Controller", Simulation, and Control Technologies for Manufacturing, Volume 2596, Proceedings of the SPIE, October 1995, http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/proctor/sim/sim.html

• Fred Proctor, John Michaloski, Will Shackleford, and Sandor Szabo, "Validation of Standard Interfaces for Machine Control", Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing: Trends in Research, Development, and Applications, Volume 2, TSI Press, Albuquerque, NM, 1996, http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/proctor/isram96/isram96.html

• Zhang et al., "Development of EMC2 CNC Based on Qt", Manufacturing Technology & Machine Tool, 2008, http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-ZJYC200802046.htm

External links

• EMC2 project homepage at www.linuxcnc.org
• EMC2 project wiki
• The NIST RS274NGC Standard - Version 3 Aug 2000 also available as a PDF
• The Enhanced Machine Controller homepage at NIST