MAORY Instrument Control Hardware: general overview

This paper provides a description of the Instrument Control Hardware design for MAORY (Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics RelaY), a first light instrument for ESO ELT. The MAORY Instrument Control Hardware is in charge of the control electronics of the entire system. It comprises all the implemented electronic devices (power supplies, PLC CPUs and terminals, motor drivers, control panel, network switches, sensors) and the harness used to connect them. The instrument control system architecture is based on the use of PLC and EtherCAT fieldbus protocol, which allows for a distribution of PLC terminals controlled by the same CPU that do not have to be physically located in the same place to communicate among each other.