Quanser

Beyond Compare

Discriminating decisions demand distinction. Quanser's educational and research systems feature unparalleled qualities including modularity, flexibility, multi-purposed components, proven realtime performance and interactive INTERNET compatible realtime control. Together with impeccable customer service, in-house expertise and commitment to education, Quanser performs custom modifications and executes custom designs to meet your special needs. When it comes to Quanser products and services there is simply no comparison.

ADVANCED CONTROL EXPERIMENTS
	Quanser	Other?	Meaning
Total experiments	>60		How many different electromechanical configurations do they offer? This is important especially that our systems are modular and you are not locked into the same experiment permanently.
Modular systems	YES		Can you use the same power plant to perform very different experiments. For example use the inverted pendulum cart to perform Seesaw , Gantry or Linear flexible joint? Can you use the same power module for various systems?
Custom design	YES		Do they perform custom designs from scratch? Will they make modifications to existing setups? Do they upgrade their system when the designs are improved over the years?
Number of MIMO experiments	>8		How many MIMO experiments do they offer? Do they have extensive experience with MIMO systems?
Types of Helicopter experiments	3		How many different helicopter experiments do they make?
Precious metal sliprings on helicopters for unlimited motion?	YES		Do they use sliprings on the helicopters? Sliprings allow for electrical signals to be transmitted without tangling wires and therefore eliminating friction and allowing for unlimited rotation. Once you are limited in rotation, the experiment is useless!
How many inverted pendulum experiments?	>10		Our experiments can be configured to perform- Linear : Classical IP, Self erecting linear IP, double IP, Flexible IP, triple IP (HFLC) Rotary: Rotary IP, Self erecting IP, Double IP, 2 DOF IP-Planar: Up/Up & Down/Up configurations.
Is there a "classical" Inverted pendulum.	YES		Some manufacturers claim they have an "inverted pendulum" which does not even look like an inverted pendulum. Please examine it closely and note that it may have a counterweight making it a much easier system to balance. Furthermore, dynamically it is the same as our Seesaw.
Types of self erecting inverted pendulum.	Linear Rotary Planar		How many types of self erecting inverted pendula do they have? We have three types and all can be upgraded to double inverted pendulum experiments!

CONTROL HARDWARE
	Quanser	Other?	Meaning
PC or DSP?	Q4, Q8		We make our own specialized PCI board. Do they use a DSP? A DSP is very expensive and these days you get better performance on a regular PC where you have virtually unlimited memory, and also multitask and run other programs.
Analog inputs	8		How many analog input channels? What resolution? Ours are 14 bit.
Analog outputs	8		How many analog output channels? What resolution? Ours are 12 bit.
Encoder inputs	8		How many encoder channels? How many bits per counter? Ours have 24 bits counters with preload.

REALTIME SOFTWARE
	Quanser	Other?	Meaning
Software Name	WinCon		Do they make their own SW or is it third party? Who will support a third party product? We fully support our SW.
ARDENCE Partner	YES		Are they in partnership with a manufacturer of a realtime operating system? We are partners with Ardence and have access to the latest developments in realtime OS libraries for Windows XP.
MATLAB Partner	YES		Are they Partners with the Mathworks? Do they have access to beta versions of the MATLAB and SIMULINK products?
MATLAB integrated	YES		Are their experiments well integrated with MATLAB software?
MAPLE integrated	YES		Do they offer MAPLE script files to derive the complex nonlinear differential equations?
SIMULINK-RTW compatible	YES		Can they run SIMULINK generated RTW code?
Interactive tuning from SIMULINK diagram	YES		Can they tune the realtime controller on the fly from the SIMULINK diagram?
Remote Control via INTERNET	YES		Can they download the controller to a remote lab and run the experiment remotely via the INTERNET? This feature is very useful for Universities who want to give their students access to their labs from remote locations.
MATLAB scripting	YES		Can they Start/Stop a controller from MATLAB command window? Can they automate the process from MATLAB to perform off line parameter estimation and learning control?
Standalone with parameter tuning independent of SIMULINK	YES		Can they tune the realtime controller on the fly from a user defined (drag and drop) control panel interface?
Professional version independent of SIMULINK	YES		Do they supply an option to write your own C code into the realtime process?
OS	Windows XP		On which operating systems does the realtime controller run?
ISR Latency	< 4 usec with up to 15 usec jitter		What is the time taken from the moment the interrupt occurs to the time the interrupt is actually serviced. This is a VERY important spec. which should never be ignored, especially in a multitasking operating system.
Maximum sampling rate	80 KHz.**		What is the fastest sampling rate that they have actually achieved and what is the benchmark? Our rate is based upon a single analog PID loop on current consumer-level PC’s.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
	Quanser	Other?	Meaning
Full Laboratory Consulting / Installation	YES		Our team of engineers have years of experience consulting and installing different laboratory configurations to meet your needs. Call us now to find out what options we can offer to you!

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