The rise of the equipment manufacturing industry is a crucial support for China's industrial modernization and the enhancement of its comprehensive national strength. Progress in manufacturing not only improves material production capacity and solves manufacturing problems for key equipment, but also, the common technologies in manufacturing are dual-use (military and civilian), which is of great significance to national defense and security. Numerical control (NC) technology is a key technology group supporting modern equipment manufacturing, directly determining the function and performance of manufactured equipment. It is a key technology at the equipment level in the process of industrialization driven by informatization, and belongs to an important foundational technology group supporting advanced manufacturing technologies. Moreover, NC technology is characterized by high-precision servo control and multi-motion collaborative control, sharing common technological foundations with automatic artillery control, radar control, and gyro navigation control technologies, exhibiting typical dual-use characteristics. 1. The Containment of the Rise of China's NC Technology by the International Competitive Environment Precisely because of the dual-use nature of NC technology, the international competitive environment has a clear intention to contain its rise. From the technology blockade stage of the COCOM to the Cox Report, to joint ventures, localized production, dumping of low-end products, and the weakening of China's domestic independent research and development capabilities, all reflect this intention to contain China. Numerous facts prove that our attempt to "exchange market access for technology" through technology imports has been wishful thinking. The result is often the loss of market access without the acquisition of technology. Currently, controller giants led by Japan's FANUC and SIEMENS monopolize over 80% of the market, not only monopolizing high-end products but also restricting imports to China. Through nearly 20 years of continuous technological breakthroughs and market cultivation, China has seen the emergence of a number of CNC manufacturers, opening up the low-to-mid-end market and achieving a certain market scale. However, in the technology-intensive mid-to-high-end controller market, the scale of domestically produced controllers remains compressed, profit margins are squeezed, and the R&D system cannot support sustainable technological progress. Industry experts frankly admit that "China's CNC machine tool technology lags behind that of developed countries by at least 15 years." Japanese international economist Keitaro Hasegawa published an article titled "China's Future Depends on Japan" in the May 2005 issue of the Japanese monthly magazine "Voice." The article states that in the automotive manufacturing industry, machine tools producing automotive parts operate for an average of 3,500 hours per year, and only Japanese-made machine tools can guarantee consistent performance for five consecutive years. "Without Japanese machine tools, China's automotive industry would be unable to move forward." Keitaro Hasegawa predicts that China's dependence on Japan will only increase, not decrease. This implies that "Japan is increasingly capable of controlling China." Objectively analyzing this article, discarding the frenzied mentality of a few Japanese scholars, and focusing solely on the gap in technology and products of key components in manufacturing equipment, represented by CNC systems, the article's viewpoint should awaken our sense of crisis. 2. CNC technology possesses the technological and industrial conditions to break through containment . The main means to break through foreign containment of our CNC technology is to reduce dependence on foreign technology, select key technologies with supporting technological conditions as breakthrough points, and proactively achieve breakthroughs to gain the initiative in competition. With the support of advancements in computer hardware and software technology and communication technology over the past decade, CNC technology possesses the conditions for a key technological breakthrough. From an industrial perspective, the basic characteristics of CNC controller products can be summarized as dedicated industrial computers; servo drive system products are characterized by dedicated industrial power supplies for drive motors; and servo motor products are characterized by high-precision motors equipped with high-precision position feedback components. From an industry perspective, China possesses the full potential to develop a high-end CNC system industry, and its production capacity for some products with similar characteristics is among the world's leading. Therefore, looking beyond the narrow scope of motion controller manufacturing and considering China's overall industrial landscape, breakthroughs in the CNC system industry are supported by robust industrial infrastructure. Another characteristic of the CNC system industry is its software-based technology. The software running on digital controllers and servo drives implements the system's main functions and performance. Therefore, competition in this sector will increasingly transform into an intellectual contest based on software, control, and manufacturing technologies, and an engineering contest characterized by technological integration. 3. The key to overcoming technological containment is establishing an independent innovation platform suitable for the growth of core technology systems. The key to countering containment is building an independent innovation platform suitable for the growth of core technology systems, shifting from passive technological catching-up to proactive technological confrontation. High-end CNC technology is not merely a matter of controllers; it involves a complex group of disciplines related to motors, drives, measurement, communication, computer hardware and software, as well as machine tool testing and simulation. All these technological aspects will impact the final equipment control performance. Let's take high-speed, high-precision, and high-response motion control as an example to illustrate this point. According to publicly available materials from FANUC, improving control resolution to nanometers can double the precision and surface quality of the processed product. However, this result requires a comprehensive technological upgrade to the controller. For the implementation of high-speed motion control technology, motion trajectory analysis and prediction based on a read-ahead mechanism are essential. This mechanism places higher demands on the system architecture. Trajectory smoothing and jerk control are necessary techniques to avoid impacts in high-speed motion control. The interpolator's computational precision needs to be improved from 1 µm to 1 nm, the computational word length needs to be increased by three bits, and the effective computational precision needs to be improved by three orders of magnitude. The software platform must support the computation of the corresponding word length. On the other hand, the control cycle time also needs to be improved accordingly; otherwise, simply improving the instruction precision is meaningless. This naturally places higher demands on the system's computational load, requiring the system hardware platform to have higher speeds. Achieving this resolution solely within the controller is insufficient; this control quantity must also be sent to the servo drive. Due to the expansion of the effective word length and the increase in control cycle time, the corresponding communication bandwidth requirement also needs to be increased. Servo communication must be handled digitally; pulse communication and analog communication with position pulse feedback are not suitable. On the servo side, the pursuit of higher precision control is clearly a key challenge. Firstly, higher precision position feedback components are needed. Currently, internationally, high-precision servo device sensors have reached 2-4 million lines, enabling nanometer-level control in conjunction with existing mechanical devices. In contrast, sensors in domestic controller products mostly operate at around 2000 or 2500 lines. This gap in sensing technology directly results in lower speed ratios and slower speed stability in our drive devices. High-resolution sensors also face the challenge of sensor interfaces. Clearly, AB pulse interfaces are unsuitable at this resolution. A high-speed digital communication protocol that ensures synchronous sampling by the controller is essential. The high-precision control of the servo itself is also a critical issue. FANUC emphasizes HRV (High Response Vector Control), and Mitsubishi emphasizes OMR (Optimized Mechanical Response Control), both pointing directly to the core problem of high-precision servo control—high-precision, fast-response current loop design. Only a good current loop characteristic can lay the foundation for good speed and position control. Many control technologies can contribute to resolving this core challenge, including various state recognition methods, sliding mode control, and variable parameter control. Achieving high-precision control requires more than just controllers and servo drives. Motor design itself is a crucial factor directly impacting motion control performance. For permanent magnet synchronous servo motors, good back-EMF sine rotation and minimal cogging force are highly beneficial for achieving smooth low-speed control in servo drives. Many manufacturers of high-precision drives are also motor manufacturers. In many domestic research institutions, motor technology and servo drive technology are often separated, with some even lacking motor technology support and focusing solely on servo drives. In high-precision motion control research, simulation technology will significantly reduce the time and implementation costs associated with control algorithm research. While simulation technology is essential, it's also necessary to develop relevant experimental platforms to evaluate the effectiveness of motion control and the performance of servo drives and motors. For example, how to evaluate low-speed smoothness and stiffness. The above example of high-speed, high-precision motion control technology illustrates that high-end controller technology is a tightly coupled group of technical disciplines. A high-end CNC technology innovation system should possess a complete technology chain; therefore, we call such a system a "technology innovation platform." The investment required to build such a platform is substantial. Taking Japan's FANUC Corporation as an example, it maintains a leading position in technology and ranks first in the world in terms of output. The company currently has 3,674 employees, including over 600 R&D personnel, a monthly production capacity of 7,000 sets, and accounts for 50% of the world market sales. Its R&D investment is 10% of sales revenue, with annual R&D expenditures exceeding $100 million. Clearly, supporting such a platform under China's current research conditions is extremely difficult for a single enterprise or institution. We can only achieve technological leaps by forming enterprise technology innovation alliances—including universities and other research institutions, with the industrial chain and technological linkages as the intrinsic links—integrating technological resources, forming new types of industry-university-research innovation organizations, and achieving closely coupled innovative technology platforms across multiple technologies under the support and guidance of relevant national policies. 4. Grasping the Development Trends of CNC Core Technologies We must fully utilize new technologies in the general technology field to grasp the development trends of CNC core technologies, focusing on what is important and avoiding what is not. China's equipment controller industry, currently in a state of lagging competition, must fully utilize new technologies, grasp the development direction of CNC technology, and, based on its own actual situation, focus on what is important and avoid what is not, forming a late-mover advantage and accelerating the pace of technological progress to achieve catching up and leapfrogging. First, it is necessary to clarify the development direction of CNC technology in China. We can draw inspiration from the export restrictions imposed on China by SIEMENS CNC systems. The vast majority of these functions are considered to directly impact the core competitiveness of European equipment. SIEMENS CNC systems are specifically divided into export and standard types. The export type restricts a large number of function groups. Non-EU users need formal permission from Germany or the EU to purchase these functions. The main restricted functions are shown in the table below: [img=380,246]http://www.e-works.net.cn/images/128160095949843750.gif[/img] Analyzing the above functions, we can summarize several important technical directions for high-end controllers: control technology for complex motion laws. The "2D+6 helical interpolation," "5-axis machining program package," and "multi-axis interpolation (4-axis)" in the table above all belong to this technical direction. Motion control of complex surfaces and curves is a fundamental technology in CNC fundamentals and is also a practical requirement for process equipment. In particular, five-axis machining control technology is the basic supporting technology for machining complex curved surfaces. This technology is crucial for the aerospace, weaponry, and power equipment manufacturing industries. Multi-axis coupled motion control. The features described in the table above—"Transfer (Robot) Package," "1D/3D Clearance Control in Position Control Cycle," "Overhang Compensation, Multidimensional," "Active Numerical Coupling and Curve List Interpolation," "Electronic Gear Unit," "Continuous Correction," and "Measurement Level 2"—all embody these characteristics. A common feature of these functions is that the motion of a certain coordinate axis is no longer executed by a planned trajectory, but rather has a coupling or cooperative relationship with the motion or logical quantities of other axes; that is, the real-time interpolation process also introduces other control factors. These functions are clearly essential for complex equipment and are an important supplement to classical interpolation motion control. Open architecture. The "Open Architecture NC Core Compilation Loop" and "Synchronous Operation" in the table above belong to this technical direction. The "Open Architecture NC Core Compilation Loop" engine allows users to add their own custom control functions to the system and execute them periodically according to a specified execution frequency. "Synchronous Operation" allows users to define execution conditions and actions in a high-level language. These two functions respectively reflect different levels of openness in the control system: openness at the execution engine level and openness at the user language level. This type of technology obviously benefits OEMs by enabling them to quickly respond to process requirements, integrate their proprietary technologies into controllers, and develop controllers with their own unique characteristics, greatly expanding the controller's control capabilities. This includes the integration with servo control technology. The "Internal Drive Variable Evaluation" in the table above falls under this technical direction. The performance of the servo drive device directly affects the control performance of the entire CNC system and the overall equipment performance. Therefore, servo drive-related technologies have become an important foundation for high-end controller technologies. Due to the characteristics of embedded systems in servo drive devices, the limitations of computing resources, storage resources, and human-machine interaction capabilities, the visualization and optimization of servo system parameters need to be achieved through a higher-level digital controller. Therefore, the integration of controller technology and servo drive technology has become an important direction for the development of CNC technology. This technical characteristic can be seen in many controller products. The above four technical directions are crucial for the progress of digital equipment. China's CNC technology lags significantly in these areas, which should be our focus. 5. Technical Strategies for Overcoming Technological Constraints In terms of technology implementation strategies, fully utilizing new technologies in the general technology field is an important strategy. The advancements in computer hardware and software technology over the past decade have provided crucial support for us to catch up and surpass in the field of CNC technology. High-performance CPUs provide stronger computing resources for control calculations and simplify the system's hardware architecture. Diverse embedded operating systems offer convenient application interfaces for controller software. Computer communication technologies, including industrial fieldbus technology, significantly improve the bandwidth of internal and external interconnections within the controller. The increasing maturity of software engineering technology provides guidance for ensuring software quality and the sustainable development of software architecture. Advances in power electronics technology provide safe and reliable support for higher-power servo drives. These technologies represent only a small part of the progress in engineering technology over the past decade. Paying close attention to the advancements in general engineering technologies, and making new technologies our late-mover advantage, is of great significance for accelerating technological catch-up and achieving technological leaps. In terms of technology implementation strategies, fully integrating manufacturing technology, control technology, and computer technology is an important strategy. This integration aligns with the technical characteristics of the CNC technology chain. Manufacturing technology is the source of demand for CNC technology. Developing controllers that conform to China's industrial model and manufacturing technology characteristics is a crucial driving force for the advancement of domestic controller technology and a fundamental starting point for leveraging the competitive advantage of controllers. Control technology is the core of CNC technology and the core of the technology chain. Computer technology is an important support for CNC technology. On the one hand, with the support of computer simulation technology, the physical process simulation of the manufacturing process provides a basis for basic control models and control strategies for control technology; on the other hand, computer technology is also an important carrier for the implementation of control technology. Therefore, in the construction of the CNC technology discipline group and the process of technology chain linkage, the integration of manufacturing technology, control technology, and computer technology should be fully realized. 6. Conclusion The progress and development of CNC technology in China, in addition to the technical issues themselves, also requires the encouragement and support of national policies and the support of manufacturing equipment manufacturers. In particular, it is necessary to solve the application demonstration project of the first set of equipment, on the one hand, to quantify the differences between domestic and foreign CNC technology levels and clarify the direction of efforts for domestic controllers; on the other hand, to break the myth of imported brands and provide opportunities for the application and promotion of domestic CNC products. China's CNC technology catching up with the world's advanced level is a long and arduous task. It is believed that in the social atmosphere of building an innovative country, through the organization of a new industry-university-research innovation model with enterprises at its core, and by fully utilizing new technologies in the field of general technology to realize the integration of manufacturing technology, control technology, and computer technology, through persistent efforts and independent innovation, it is very promising to gradually break through technological blockades and containment, and accelerate technological progress.