OBLAC Drives Overview and Setup

Overview

OBLAC Drives is Synapticon’s all-in-one software solution for configuring, tuning, and commissioning SOMANET drives. It combines an intuitive setup workflow with powerful tuning tools and end-to-end commissioning support, enabling precise and reliable motor control.

Designed specifically for SOMANET drives, OBLAC Drives delivers a purpose-built user experience with:

  • Guided setup for motors, brakes, and encoders,

  • Safe Motion Module (SMM) configuration,

  • Intuitive diagnostics and automatic offset detection,

  • System identification for accurate plant modeling,

  • Limited-range system identification that respects user-defined position limits, even under gravity,

  • Manual and automatic tuning of velocity and position controllers,

  • Flexible step and ramp profiles across multiple modes of operation,

  • An interactive "playground" for controlling and observing drive behavior in synchronous modes,

  • Firmware installation with intelligent package resolution,

  • Support for interface units (degrees, revolutions, custom) instead of raw values,

  • Easy access to - and modification of - fully documented parameters,

  • Loading and saving of device configurations,

  • A fully documented HTTP API for scripting and automation,

  • A TypeScript client library for building custom control applications,

  • UI-based PDO mapping,

  • Intuitive configuration and control of GPIOs, analog inputs, and homing,

  • Cogging torque compensation to reduce torque ripple,

  • Filtering options to minimize encoder noise,

  • And more.

OBLAC Drives communicates with SOMANET drives via EtherCAT, or through the custom SOMANET Protocol over Ethernet (SPoE) used in ACTILINK-S devices. SPoE supports both full device control and parallel operation alongside other masters, e.g., PROFINET or EtherNet/IP for monitoring.

The platform consists of the Motion Master backend and the OBLAC Drives UI. Most users install the native OBLAC Drives application, available for Windows and Linux. Alternatively, the software can be deployed in containerized environments using Docker.

Download the setup files from https://bundles.synapticon.com.

Setup

OBLAC Drives allows you to commission a SOMANET drive. Supported by automated tuning functions, you can quickly set up and test your motor, encoder and fieldbus systems, as well as optimize and test your performance. Once established, the expert interface provides fast and direct access to all parameters.

There are two ways to run OBLAC Drives:

OBLAC Drives App is available free of charge and can be run on a Windows or Linux PC.

Note: Using the OBLAC Drives App is recommended for most users.
If any issues are encountered with the App, refer to the Troubleshooting section.

OBLAC Box is a compact physical machine dedicated to running OBLAC Drives in a defined and proven environment. Both Linux OS and OBLAC Drives are preinstalled, and additional hardware is not required.

Important:The OBLAC Drives Virtual Machine is no longer supported!