Time: 11:15am - 12:00pm

About the Speaker: As vice president of industrial and embedded product lines, John Hanks is responsible for driving National Instruments product strategy, marketing, and positioning for data acquisition, distributed I/O, motion control, vision, and embedded product areas. Hanks joined NI in 1990 as a hardware applications engineer and, in 1991, opened field engineering offices in Atlanta to serve customers in five southeastern states. Hanks later lead new product teams for machine vision, wireless sensing, and motion control. Under his leadership, NI introduced its first motion control and power driver hardware and motion control software. Hanks' team was also instrumental in corporate collaboration between SolidWorks and National Instruments which resulted in virtual prototyping software tools that improve motion system design and offer direct deployment to controller hardware. Hanks currently serves as an Industry Advisor to Texas A&M Engineering Department. He has served on the board of directors for the Center for Commercialization of Electric Technology, has held industry advisory roles for projects funded by the National Science Foundation, and has participated in the LeaderShape organization as a career coach for young engineers and scientists. Hanks graduated with a bachelor of science in engineering from Texas A&M University and received a master of science in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

A broad range of product types embed motors and electronics. The list ranges from everyday products such as white goods/appliances and HVAC systems to industrial-control, and factory-automation systems, to medical and lab instruments. The applications demand increased precision in motor control schemes. And in most cases, the system design must focus on increased efficiency, and therefore lower-power operation. Many products require power-factor correction to eliminate the strain a reactive load can place on the power grid. And of course every application is cost sensitive. This session will focus on efficiency and low-power in motor control.

Moderator: Maury Wright, Veteran Technology Journalist and Marketing Consultant

Panelists:
Steven Goldman, Field Applications Engineering Manager, Infineon
Dan Jones, President, Incremotion Associates
Patrick J. Piper, President and CEO, QM Power, Inc.
Curt Wilson, Vice President of Engineering, Delta Tau Data Systems

If you're focused on finding new motor control techniques to gain precision and power efficiency, see TI's chat for tips that address your questions. Learn motion control and motor drive experts from TI's Microcontroller and Analog businesses for the best ways to tackle design challenges from a complete system perspective.

Moderators:
Chris Opoczynksi, Product Marketing Manager, Motor Drive and Motion Control, Texas Instruments
Dave Wilson, Senior Industrial Systems Engineer, Microcontroller Business Unit, Texas Instruments

Design engineers have a plethora of motor choices when contemplating a project ranging from simple steppers to a variety of AC and DC motors. Moreover we now have more exotic technologies such as IPM, TFM, and IHD adding to the menu. See the experiences your peers share in selecting motors and at the same time learn from the experiences of others.

Moderator: Maury Wright, Veteran Technology Journalist and Marketing Consultant

Programmable IC such as MCUs are ideal in many applications because the devices can be adapted to many different tasks and tuned for efficiency in the application. But some applications such as motor control demand quick response in the control loop that ensure accurate operation. This session will look at differ options for the basis of a motor controller including standard MCUs, MCUs with integrated DSP functions (DSCs), and ASSP controllers that are hard wired for the application.

Moderator: Patrick Mannion, Editorial Director, Design & Products, UBM Electronics

Panelists:
Jason Chiang, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, Altera Corporation
Chuck Lewin, Founder, Vice President of Engineering, Performance Motion Devices, Inc.
Chris Opoczynksi, Product Marketing Manager, Motor Drive and Motion Control, Texas Instruments
Jorge Zambada, Senior Applications Engineer, High Performance Microcontroller Division, Microchip Technology Inc.

How many different ways to you use software in your motor-control projects? Modeling tools can help in the prototype stage. But many designs will also include a software component in the deliverable projects. See this chat with your peers and learn from their experience, and learn from the techniques applied by others.

Moderator: Nic Mokhoff, Research Editor, EE Times

New technologies apply more intelligence to drive/motion controllers to "control" motors, resulting in greater energy efficiency and precision, and lowering the total cost of ownership. To more effectively take advantage of these technologies, designers bridge fieldbus-enabled systems to Industrial Ethernet. See what your peers think of the challenges and solutions available for bridging motor systems to Industrial Ethernet.

Moderator: Jason Chiang, Sr. Technical Marketing Manager, Altera Corporation

The key to adding intelligence in your motor control applications is software. These days, the servo or PID controller may very well be implemented in software. Moreover, once you have a programmable resource in the system you can add intelligence in the form of features such as dynamic power management. This session will look at the process of prototyping, designing, and deploying intelligent, software-based controllers, and hardware/software platforms upon which you can build your controller.

Moderator: Maury Wright, Veteran Technology Journalist and Marketing Consultant

Panelists:
Kirk Barker, Electronics Product Manager, Maxon Precision Motors
Kerry Grand, Senior Technical Consultant, The MathWorks
Dal Y. Ohm, President, Drivetech, Inc.
Tim Wescott, Owner, Wescott Design Services