KiCon Europe 2024

To see our schedule with full functionality, like timezone conversion and personal scheduling, please enable JavaScript and go here.
No sessions on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024.
09:00
09:00
15min
Welcome to KiCon Europe 2024

Introduction session

Main Hall
09:15
09:15
45min
How KiCad Enables the Open Hardware Future
Lukas F. Hartmann

Lukas "minute" Hartmann, CEO, MNT Research GmbH discusses development of Open Hardware, specifically the MNT Reform Open Hardware laptop

Main Hall
10:00
10:00
40min
How to build awesome KiCad plugins
Joel Schulz-Andres

Unlock unused potential of KiCad by learning how to create custom plugins that enhance functionality and streamline your PCB design workflow. This session will guide attendees through the process of building plugins using Python and the KiCad Scripting Interface, covering essential concepts from setup to deployment and uploading into the Plugin and Content Manager for others to use. Whether you're looking to automate repetitive tasks, integrate third-party tools, or introduce new features, this talk will equip you with the basic knowledge and tools to start developing powerful plugins that can significantly improve your design experience.

Main Hall
10:40
10:40
20min
Coffee Break
Main Hall
11:00
11:00
40min
How to File a KiCad Bug Report
Wayne Stambaugh

A detailed talk about how to file a high quality bug report that minimizes the amount of work users and developers need to do to get bugs resolved as quickly as possible.

Main Hall
11:40
11:40
40min
Simulation circuits in KiCad using ngspice
Holger Vogt

As introduction I will talk about ngspice simulator, and its integration into KiCad/Eeschema. Next will be a discussion on what is required for simulation: symbols, circuits, ngspice device models. A simple circuit simulation will be set up and run live. More simulation examples will follow to demonstrate the broad variety of circuits and simulation types.

Main Hall
12:20
12:20
60min
Lunch
Main Hall
13:20
13:20
40min
Converting schematic images to KiCAD
André Alcalde

Capturing schematics is a very important step in the development of new electronic boards, as it simplifies the process of PCB layout and documents the functionality of a circuit in a readable form. In this talk, we want to present our efforts in applying machine learning to quickly convert schematic images, broadly available on PDF documents such as application notes and reference designs, to native KiCAD format, thus reducing the time investment needed to reuse circuits in a project. Finally, we propose the integration of this functionality as a KiCAD plugin to be developed together with the community.

Main Hall
14:00
14:00
40min
How to integrate UV printings on KiCad
Pierre Ribeiro Gomes

This Talk will show you how to integrate easily UV printings on Kicad.

Main Hall
Main Hall
14:40
14:40
40min
Working with artists to design beautiful boards
Kliment

In this talk, I'll share my experiences in collaborations between visual artists and PCB layout engineers, and show some of the methods for tricking KiCad into producing beautiful things.

Main Hall
15:20
15:20
20min
Coffee Break
Main Hall
15:40
15:40
40min
Designing Complex Boards in KiCad

Board complexity requires planning to execute a successful project. In this talk, I will discuss the successes and potential pitfalls when starting your next board.

Main Hall
16:20
16:20
40min
KiCad Developer Roundtable

Moderated roundtable discussion with the KiCad developers on the state of the project, future directions and opportunities

Main Hall
09:00
09:00
45min
KiCad Status
Wayne Stambaugh

The current state of the KiCad project.

Main Hall
09:00
90min
Speed up your Hand Assembly with the Pixel Pump
Thea

Hand assembly can be a time consuming task but there ways to speed it up. This workshop will show you how.

Main Hall
Workshop Room
09:45
09:45
40min
Source-Controlled Reference-Designs: Modular Circuits for Efficient Development

Developing new electronic circuits often requires a complete redesign, which is resource-intensive and time-consuming. While there are open-source platforms sharing entire circuits, there is little focus on sharing smaller, reusable sections of circuits. This talk introduces the concept of Edgies—minimal functional basic blocks of circuits—that can be shared, reused, and tested more efficiently, revolutionizing circuit design in a way that mirrors modern software development practices.

Main Hall
Main Hall
10:25
10:25
15min
Coffee Break
Main Hall
10:40
10:40
100min
Become a KiCad Librarian
cpresser

We are the library team. You can also be the library team! It's easy, low-pressure, and occasionally fun! We'll show you how.

KiCad's libraries are created and maintained by an enormous volunteer effort. As more and more users use KiCad, the libraries grow and evolve with many. many user contributions.
The library team sits between the many incoming contributions and the libraries we ship to users. We try to keep everything correct, consistent, and useful.
For those tasks we can always use more help. There are plenty of contributions that need reviewing and tools we would like to improve. While it is helpful if you are experienced in electronics or software and know how to use git, those are not mandatory skills.
In this workshop session, we will give you everything you need to get started as a librarian.

Workshop Room
10:40
50min
Managing PCB Assembly Variants with KiVar
Mark Hämmerling

This talk will enable you to quickly and efficiently create PCB assembly variants and switch between them conveniently and safely with KiVar.

You will learn about the concepts of KiVar, how it is different from existing tools and how it can help you manage variants in your KiCad projects with ease.

All variant management features are presented and illustrated using simple examples.

The KiVar project: https://kivar.markh.de

Main Hall
11:30
11:30
30min
Clearance and creepage for safety
Fabien CORONA

Introduction to clearance and creepage, and the ongoing development for a creepage DRC check.

Main Hall
Main Hall
12:00
12:00
30min
RF Energy Harvesting circuits simulation in KiCad
Jakub Szut, Pawel Piatek, Mariusz

The development of mobile networks made it possible to move to the next level of data transfer speeds. The potential of radio waves as an energy source is still waiting to be exploited. Recent developments in high-frequency electronics temptates to come back to Nikola Tesla’s idea of wireless energy transfer.

Research in this area is difficult as it requires operating in centimeter wavelenghts, however, some progress in this matter is noticeable. Simulation comes with enormous help in designing of harvesters circuits, especially with shortening time in receiving results of experiments, which leads to lowering costs and speeding up the design process. There were some simulation environments levereged in the research: Simscape Electrical, LT Spice and last but not least KiCad.

During this talk a way to simulate RFEHs in KiCad will be presented, parameters defining circuits performance will be discussed and results to other SPICE simulators will be compared.

Main Hall
12:30
12:30
60min
Lunch
Main Hall
13:30
13:30
30min
CE For makers - Leveraging Kicad and open source for CE documents
Clemens Mayer (@mayermakes)

Kicad gets steadily more popular for commercial projects. A big step for bringing your newly desigend product to market is certification. The european CE certification process can be very daunting and people get easily confused by the multitude of regulations and directives. The mandatory documentation including product assessment, Risk analysis and technical documentation is often overlooked in the public discussion as only the manufacturer and authorities will get to see them usually.
Developing Open source products has advantages for the required documentation and Kicad in particular can be easily utilized for fast and compliant results, once you figured out the workflow.

Main Hall
14:00
14:00
20min
European Manufacturing Discussion Panel

Discussion with European manufacturers on the challenges and promises of European circuit manufacture

Main Hall
14:20
14:20
15min
Coffee Break
Main Hall
14:35
14:35
120min
How to make cat pictures (and other visual art) part of your PCB
Kliment

We'll look at PCBs and driving KiCad from a visual design perspective, and understand how to prepare graphics for KiCad to use, and how to work with them. We will then make some pretty layouts. I'll bring cat pictures. You can bring other cute things.

Workshop Room
14:35
40min
KiTorquer - Auto-Generation of optimal Magnetic Coils for Small Satellite Attitude Control
Sebastian Grau

KiTorquer is a KiCAD plugin to generate optimized magnetic coil layouts for attitude control of small satellites

Main Hall
15:15
15:15
40min
The KiCon Electronic Badge
Michael MSvB

The KiCon electronic badge is an Open Source device integrating a number of technologies and derived from reference circuits and several teams' work since 2022. The electronic circuits of this device were designed exclusively using KiCad, and during this hour we study the technology in depth.

Main Hall
Main Hall
16:00
16:00
20min
Complaint session; Influence the next version of KiCad
Kliment

Tell us what you dislike about KiCad (succinctly). We'll summarize it live, write it down, and hopefully fix it. Let it all out!

Main Hall
16:35
16:35
15min
KiCon Europe Wrapup

Wrap up for KiCon Europe 2024

Main Hall