The marquadb is a microcontroller that counts signals (“A quad B”) from incremental encoders. Incremental encoders are linear or rotary electromechanical devices that have 2 output signals, A und B, which issue pulses when the device is moved. Incremental encoders report position increments nearly instantaneously, which allows them to monitor the movements of high speed mechanisms in near real-time. While either A and B signal would show the progress of a movement, the phase shift between A and B allows to determine the direction of movement.

The marquadb counts pulses from up to 3 sources independently, but not simultaneously. The counting works in either direction. The instrument will report the direction of the movement and the time elapsed to count pulses from which the speed of the movement can be derived. However, the actual function of the marquadb is to trigger an action after reaching a given count of pulses. The box feeds a signal (TTL like) into one of the coaxial outputs.

A typical use of the marquadb is to provide trigger signals to any sort of hardware as a motor coupled to an encoder is moving. Trigger signals will be created after counting a given number of pulses. The instrument does not need to know about physical properties of the motor. It just counts A and B pulses of the incremental encoder. Example: a motor giving 1000 encoder pulses per mm of movement should trigger a camera that shoots a photo after every movement of 1 mm. This requires a camera capable of receiving TTL-type trigger signals.

The marquadb features a very easy to use API using a serial interface (USB). With simple commands counting of pulses can be started and stopped. In counting mode, simple commands will also provide information about progress of movements.