July 31, 2018
Enhancing the control system with FPGAs and providing a user-friendly visual development environment
Project Assistant Professor Shohei Aoki and his colleagues at the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, have developed a control system that can flexibly extend 3D printers to meet diverse on-site demands (Figs. 1 and 2). This control system was developed as part of the research by the “Process & Technology” group (Group Leader: Hiroya Tanaka, Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at the same university) for the project, “Center for the Creation of a Fab Society that Connects Kansei and Digital Manufacturing to Expand the Creativity of Consumers.” This project is supported by the Center of Innovation (COI) Program, a research results deployment project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
Key Features of the Control System for Flexibly Extending 3D Printers:
■ A new control system for 3D printers has been developed that can incorporate advanced functions like image processing, reflecting the demands of diverse environments such as corporate and university research labs.
■ This control system uses an FPGA*, which can dynamically reconfigure dedicated computing circuits, enabling it to simultaneously perform high-speed calculations such as image processing and machine learning, as well as machine control that requires real-time performance.
*Abbreviation for "Field Programmable Gate Array." A logic device whose hardware configuration can be flexibly changed later.
■ While FPGAs are functionally superior, their development environments are complex and diverse, making the technology difficult to master. With this control system, a visual programming environment allows for the development of applications where Linux applications and microcontrollers work in concert. This makes it possible to quickly add functions, such as measuring the actual height of an object being layered by a 3D printer.
For details, please see the press release (file: Development of a Control System that Can Flexibly Extend 3D Printers to Meet Diverse On-site Demands ~Enhancing the Control System with FPGAs and Providing a User-Friendly Visual Development Environment~.pdf ).
*This press release has been distributed to the city news desks of various newspapers and other media outlets.
For inquiries regarding this matter:
Secretariat, Global Fab Society Consortium
Keio Research Institute at SFC, Keio University
Distributed by:
Academic and Research Support
Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office, Keio University