What Exactly is 3D Printing, Where it Makes Sense, and Where it Doesn't

Don’t confuse the Internet of Things (IoT) with the Industrial IoT (IIoT), which typically has much more stringent characteristics. That’s because the IIoT usually involves some sort of manufacturing, robotics, or other mission-critical application, where down-time can be measured in dollars, often lots of them. In Day 3 of this three-day class, we’ll look at how to best power your IIoT application, which could include FPGA power and design considerations for high-speed RS-485 data links. The class will use the Intersil PowerCompass tool to help simplify the design. Day 3 sponsored by Intersil

Ensuring that currents don’t exceed safe levels is just one area that will be explored in Day 2 of this three-day class. Using specific product examples to remove the guesswork, our expert instructor will explain how to protect against overcurrent damage using a 12-V buck regulator family as the design example. You’ll also get an understanding of how linear and low drop-out (LDO) regulators operate, including their key performance parameters. Day 2 sponsored by Intersil

Recent events have proven that you can never be too careful when you’re designing batteries into your systems, and that covers everything from wearables to hybrid/EV battery packs. In Day 1 of this three-day class, we’ll look at how to make your battery packs safer; how to build a USB-to-controller interface that “talks” to a power device; and how to extend battery life in wearable devices. The class concludes with a question and answer period between the attendees and the expert instructor. Day 1 sponsored by Intersil.

In our final class, we will look at the “Things” of the IoT – our nodes and devices – and how we can effectively commission, monitor, and detect problems in them throughout their lifecycle. We will look at methods for adding device management capabilities in our devices from the design stage as well as ways to add these capabilities in the legacy devices we looked at in the previous class. One topic we will look at is effective commissioning and decommissioning of devices in the network – how can we add or remove a node from the network without adversely impacting the rest of the network? Another area we will look at is security assurance and testing: how can we be sure of the device security – and how can we test it? And lastly we will look at maintenance. What methods can we use for testing devices or paths within the network and how can we effectively and safely perform system updates? To conclude our class, we will review our checklist and see what other issues we may need to be aware of in our IoT design. Day 3 sponsored by Wind River

In our second class, we will begin at the heart of the Internet of Things – the sending and receiving of data to our “things.” Whether it’s collecting a simple room temperature reading or capturing a video frame for analysis, the IoT enables us to collect huge amounts of data for analysis then send out data in the form of commands or as human-readable data. The diversity of end devices makes this task difficult at best, as it involves myriad data types and protocols. This is key as we want to ensure the safety, security, and integrity of that data from its source to its intended destination. We will look at various methods we can use in our device design to effectively monitor and secure our data flow throughout the entire IoT network. Also, we will look at ways that we can approach communications issues with different protocols and physical layers in our network, which often consist of legacy devices that were not originally designed for the robustness required in the IoT. Day 2 sponsored by Wind River

In this lead-off class, we will briefly review the principles of the IoT and some of the basic configurations that we may encounter (star with gateway, tree, and mesh) and how the devices are best connected to maximize efficiency. We will look at the major issues we face as these networks and associated “things” become more complex, including data issues, communication issues, device monitoring and troubleshooting, and system security. We will identify potential weaknesses in each of these areas and compile a checklist of features that we need in a management system that will carry out these needs. We will also look at ways to prioritize the criticality of the devices and/or their data to help us in assigning levels of security and monitoring capabilities (for example, a temperature sensor used to sense a fire versus a temperature sensor for outside ambient temperature). Day 1 sponsored by Wind River

Putting together the various pieces of an IoT system is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. But it's a finite task that most engineers can get through. When it comes to the operating system, other runtime software and the development tools available, here are seemingly endless possibilities. Hence, on Day 3 of this three-day class, we'll help you figure out what software is needed for your system, where you can find that software, how you can evaluate the software, what tools are available to help assemble the pieces and build your applications, and how to test it after it's been deployed. Day 3 sponsored by Intel.

While we can't build your complete system, we can take you through some of the key stages that'll put you well on the way toward finishing your design. In Day 2 of this three-day class, we'll look at the common subsystems with an IoT edge device and what you need to know to connect to the Fog and the Cloud. We'll also show you what some of the typical hurdles/stumbling blocks are, and most importantly, we'll show you how to navigate that slippery slope using an Intel Atom processor as our design example. Day 2 sponsored by Intel.

All processors are the same, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, they vary greatly in terms of price, performance, power consumption, and a host of other features that can make or break your design. In Day 1 of this three-part class, we will go over different design requirements and where the Intel Atom processor fits. Then we'll get into the feature set that's best for your specific IoT application: performance, security, media processing, image processing, time coordinated, computing, etc. Day 1 sponsored by Intel.

Class 3 will delve into mitigating software supply-chain risk by implementing a thorough security audit process of one’s software, which has become more critical as more code is being “leveraged” as opposed to written. We will discuss potential risks of leveraged code: previously trusted legacy code, commercial third-party code, and open-source code. We will discuss binary analysis technologies for efficiently assessing risk. This need is growing as too often this code isn’t properly tested, especially with the specific target hardware. The instructor will be covering both the technical aspects and the process that should be followed, with special attention paid to software that’s written for the IoT. Day 3 sponsored by GrammaTech.

Class 2 will be a follow-on topic to class 1, where we will discuss the concept of concurrency. It’s clear that today’s developers need to be designing more efficient and higher performing applications using multi-threading, and testers need to understand how to efficiently pinpoint potential race conditions caused by concurrency defects that will lead to system failure. This is especially true when it comes to programming for multicore processors. Within the class, we will provide key insights and techniques for identifying concurrency defects, key to quality and safety, particularly as it pertains to the Internet of Things (IoT). Day 2 sponsored by GrammaTech.

In this class, we will teach software developers, testers, and analysts how taint analysis can identify exploitable areas within an application and/or system that could be used as an entry point by a hacker. Using IoT as our example, we will help perform proper taint analysis, evaluating how data modified purposely by a user or system (such as a variable set by a field in a web form or a package of information send across an automotive CAN bus) poses a potential security risk. With the continuing surge in code and data spawned by the IoT’s popularity, this is especially needed to maximize security and maintain an efficient data flow, regardless of whether it’s data within an application or data that’s transferred between applications. Given the enormous increase in application and system connectivity, all software should be analyzed for taint defects. Day 1 sponsored by GrammaTech.

What's coming down the road, what to expect and what is just a myth?. This will cover where things will go including 4d printing, conductive materials, bionic applications, accessible metal printing, true mass customization and if there will ever be a 3d printer in every home. You'll walk away with some ideas on what to look out for in technological advancements and how you can put yourself in a position to take advantage of these coming advancements. Day 3 sponsored by Stratasys

Advanced processes and practices that show the value of 3d printing as a process and production aide. We will discuss the more cutting edge applications, who is advancing these methods and why? Also we will explore the less complex but most impactful applications being used in industry. This will help you understand what is possible when you start to really dive into how the technologies can be used. Day 2 sponsored by Stratasys

Coverage of how additive manufacturing processes work and what that means in terms of where the technology should or should not be applied. This will also overview how the technology has been used over the past 30 years, how it came into the limelight recently and why some may think the industry is waning. The goal of this segment is to create a realistic depiction of the state of the industry.? Day 1 class sponsored by Stratasys.

For the third and final class in this series, we will look at the specific applications that make the most sense for 3D printing, and show you some of the secrets that you don’t learn simply by following the supplied instructions. And we’ll make sure to amplify any of the key questions that arose during the first two classes.

Now that you know the basics of 3D printing (covered in the Day 1 class), we can dive deeper into the various types of 3D printing technologies, as there are many, and the number continues to grow as the technology continues to evolve. There are different types of printers and there are different types of materials. And there are lots of different software packages available to create and print your design. Matching the right printer to the right material to the right software is easy, once you understand the principles. And that’s exactly what we’ll cover in Day two of this class.