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Abstract Digital manufacturing technologies have quickly become ubiquitous in the manufacturing industry. The transformation commonly referred to as the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, has ushered in a wide range of communication technologies, connection mechanisms, and data analysis capabilities. These technologies provide powerful tools to create more lean, profitable, and data-driven manufacturing processes. This paper reviews modern communication technologies and connection architectures for Digital Manufacturing and Industry 4.0 applications. An introduction to cyber-physical systems and a review of digital manufacturing trends is followed by an overview of data acquisition methods for manufacturing processes. Numerous communication protocols are presented and discussed for connecting disparate machines and processes. Flexible data architectures are discussed, and examples of machine monitoring implementations are provided. Finally, select implementations of these communication protocols and architectures are surveyed with recommendations for future architecture implementations. 

The effects of surface structure on mechanical performance for open-cell aluminum foam specimens were investigated in the present study. A surface gradient for pore structure and diameter was introduced into open-cell aluminum foams by machining-based processing. The structure changes in the strut and pore network were evaluated by computed tomography characterization. The role of structure gradients in affecting mechanical performance was determined using digital volume correlation and in situ compression within the computed tomographic scanner. These preliminary results show that the strength of these materials may be enhanced through surface structural gradients.