A low-cost solution to the high speed operation of stepper motors

Stepper motors are small electric motors whose shaft rotation can be accurately controlled by electronic pulses (a ―step‖ pulse). They are able to provide a simple solution in applications where positional or accurate speed control is required without the need for position sensing – i.e. open loop control. In order to maintain reliable control careful consideration must be given to the timing of the step pulses. This paper describes a novel approach to the design of the software for a low cost microcontroller that will generate the step pulses to accelerate and decelerate the motor, thereby maintain positional integrity