TMCM-142 TMCL
TM
Firmware Manual (V1.06 / 2014-JUN-24)
15
Copyright © 2009, TRINAMIC Motion Control GmbH & Co. KG
6
TMCL
TM
and TMCL-IDE
The TMCM-142 supports TMCL
TM
direct mode (binary commands or ASCII interface) and stand-alone TMCL
TM
program execution. You can store up to 2048 TMCL
TM
instructions on it.
In direct mode and most cases the TMCL
TM
communication over RS485, RS232, RS422, USB or CAN follows a
strict master/slave relationship. That is, a host computer (e.g. PC/PLC) acting as the interface bus master will
send a command to the TMCM-142. The TMCL
TM
interpreter on the module will then interpret this command,
do the initialization of the motion controller, read inputs and write outputs or whatever is necessary
according to the specified command. As soon as this step has been done, the module will send a reply back
over RS485/RS232/RS422/USB/CAN to the bus master. Only then should the master transfer the next
command. Normally, the module will just switch to transmission and occupy the bus for a reply, otherwise
it will stay in receive mode. It will not send any data over the interface without receiving a command first.
This way, any collision on the bus will be avoided when there are more than two nodes connected to a
single bus.
The Trinamic Motion Control Language (TMCL
TM
) provides a set of structured motion control commands.
Every motion control command can be given by a host computer or can be stored in an EEPROM on the
TMCM
TM
module to form programs that run stand-alone on the module. For this purpose there are not only
motion control commands but also commands to control the program structure (like conditional jumps,
compare and calculating).
Every command has a binary representation and a mnemonic. The binary format is used to send commands
from the host to a module in direct mode, whereas the mnemonic format is used for easy usage of the
commands when developing stand-alone TMCL
TM
applications using the TMCL-IDE (Integrated Development
Environment).
There is also a set of configuration variables for the axis and for global parameters which allow individual
configuration of nearly every function of a module. This manual gives a detailed description of all TMCL
TM
commands and their usage.
6.1
Binary command format
Every command has a mnemonic and a binary representation. When commands are sent from a host to a
module, the binary format has to be used. Every command consists of a one-byte command field, a one-byte
type field, a one-byte motor/bank field and a four-byte value field. So the binary representation of a
command always has seven bytes. When a command is to be sent via RS232, RS422, RS485 or USB interface,
it has to be enclosed by an address byte at the beginning and a checksum byte at the end. In this case it
consists of nine bytes.
This is different when communicating is via the CAN bus. Address and checksum are included in the CAN
standard and do not have to be supplied by the user.
The binary command format for RS232/RS422/RS485/USB is as follows:
Bytes Meaning
1
Module address
1
Command number
1
Type number
1
Motor or Bank number
4
Value (MSB first!)
1
Checksum
The checksum is calculated by adding up all the other bytes using an 8-bit addition.
When using CAN bus, just leave out the first byte (module address) and the last byte (checksum).
