Distributed autonomous control system for multi-axis motion control

A distributed multi-axis motion control system comprising:

• a multicast communications network having:
• a first node component comprising a first clock and a first actuator and
• a second node component comprising a second clock and a second actuator;
• a motor system comprising the first node component and the second node component;
• a pattern profile table of the motor system;
• a first single-direction-of-motion pattern profile table translated from the pattern profile table, the first single-direction-of-motion pattern table transmitted over the network to the first node component for controlling the first actuator;
• a second single-direction-of-motion pattern profile table translated from the pattern table, the second single-direction-of-motion pattern table transmitted over the network to the second node component for controlling the second actuator;
• a grandmaster clock generating synchronization signals transmitted through the network at a sync interval for synchronizing the first and second clocks;
• a processor for generating time-bombs at an interval which is a whole number multiple of the sync interval;
• a time-bomb, from the generated time-bombs, received by the first and second node components and causing concurrent execution of the first step in the sequence of motions defined in the first and second single-direction-of-motion pattern tables for each of the actuators to begin motion of the actuators to produce multi-axis motion of the motor system;
• and
• subsequent time-bombs, from the generated time-bombs, received by the first and second node components and causing continuing execution of subsequent steps in the sequence of motions defined in the first and second single-direction-of-motion pattern tables to produce synchronized multi-axis motion of the motor system.