CRIO using 9502 and 9514 for servo motor

Question

Hello,
The 9514 states it is an interface from the cRIO to a servo driver and the 9502 states that it is a servo driver.  Can you hook the two together to work as a system?  Is there any benefit of using the two together as opposed to just one?  I couldn't find any reference in either manual of the other's use.
Thanks,
Zach

Answer 1

"Why would the interface to an external drive have the PID loop on board, when the end product driver itself does not?"
Essentially the cRIO FPGA is part of the 9502 module. Putting the control logic on the FPGA instead of in the module means that the module is less expensive and that it is more customizable. The performance is the same if not better.
The goal with a lot of cRIO products, and especially new motion products, is to give customers an API that can be opened and customized by customers all the way down to the actual IO pins if necessary.
In motion that means that when you use the 9502 you can run the example as is, or you can open it up and modify the logic that defines that hardware to customize it to your needs.
While the 9502 is less expensive than the 9514+Drive there are some tradeoffs. The 9502 can support up to 4 Amps continuous current. We are doing a lot of work to make the LV FPGA-based 950x modules integrate seamlessly with NI SoftMotion.  In LabVIEW 2011 it takes some custom programming to write the interface code between the NI SoftMotion engine and the FPGA.
The 9514 can potentially control a drive that can drive larger motors. It is also easier to use with the NI SoftMotion engine in LabVIEW 2011.