Reduced cable smart motors communicating over the DC power bus-line for high degree of freedom systems

A system of networked smart motors is developed to reduce complex cable harnesses. Motor control signals are sent over the DC power bus line and receiver by motors with integrated power amplifiers and controller. Unlike traditional AC power line communication, the noise level and signal attenuation are much lower for the DC power bus communication. This allows for high fidelity, broadband communication among many smart motors without bulky, costly cables. A modem is designed to exploit the features of the DC power bus communication. Experimentation is done to verify that the DC bus line is indeed useful for communication. An experimental setup was developed to identify the noise spectrum and signal transmissibility of the consolidated power-signal line. Optimal carrier frequency and filter parameters are then obtained based on the experiments.