Open-source hardware ( OSH , OSHW ) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement . Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and apply a like concept to a variety of components. It is sometimes, thus, referred to as FOSH (free and open-source hardware). The term usually means that information about the hardware is easily discerned so that others can make it – coupling it closely to the maker movement . Hardware design (i.e. mechanical drawings, schematics , bills of material , PCB layout data, HDL source code and integrated circuit layout data), in addition to the software that drives the hardware, are all released under free/ libre terms. The original sharer gains feedback and potentially improvements on the design from the FOSH community. There is now significant evidence that such sharing can drive a high return on investment for the scientific community.
61-745: The Micro Bit (also referred to as BBC Micro Bit or stylized as micro:bit ) is an open source hardware ARM -based embedded system designed by the BBC for use in computer education in the United Kingdom . It was first announced on the launch of BBC's Make It Digital campaign on 12 March 2015 with the intent of delivering 1 million devices to pupils in the UK. The final device design and features were unveiled on 6 July 2015 whereas actual delivery of devices, initially planned for September 2015 to schools and October 2015 to general public, began on 10 February 2016. The device
122-455: A .UF2 file. The compiled code is then flashed onto the device using USB or Bluetooth connections. The device appears as a USB drive when connected to a computer, and code can be flashed dragging and dropping the .UF2 file. Other editors for the BBC micro:bit include: Other programming languages for the BBC micro:bit include: Operating systems which can be built for the BBC micro:bit: The micro:bit
183-663: A copyright license may control the distribution of the source code or design documents, a patent license may control the use and manufacturing of the physical device built from the design documents. This distinction is explicitly mentioned in the preamble of the TAPR Open Hardware License : "... those who benefit from an OHL design may not bring lawsuits claiming that design infringes their patents or other intellectual property." Noteworthy licenses include: The Open Source Hardware Association recommends seven licenses which follow their open-source hardware definition . From
244-530: A free and open 3D graphics chip set and reference graphics card, Timothy Miller suggested the creation of an organization to safeguard the interests of the Open Graphics Project community. Thus, Patrick McNamara founded the Open Hardware Foundation (OHF) in 2007. The Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR), founded in 1982 as a non-profit organization of amateur radio operators with
305-462: A hub of activity due to the emergence of several major open-source hardware projects and companies, such as OpenCores , RepRap ( 3D printing ), Arduino , Adafruit , SparkFun , and Open Source Ecology . In 2007, Perens reactivated the openhardware.org website, but it's currently (August 2023) inactive. Following the Open Graphics Project , an effort to design, implement, and manufacture
366-405: A larger range of product categories such as machine tools, vehicles and medical equipment. In that sense, hardware refers to any form of tangible product, be it electronic hardware, mechanical hardware, textile or even construction hardware. The Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0 defines hardware as "tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things". Electronics is one of
427-420: A microphone, a speaker, a touch sensor, and power saving mode. Open source hardware It is not enough to merely use an open-source license ; an open source product or project will follow open source principles, such as modular design and community collaboration. Since the rise of reconfigurable programmable logic devices , sharing of logic designs has been a form of open-source hardware. Instead of
488-723: A number of major technical infrastructure transformation projects for the UK broadcasting industry. BBC R&D is part of the wider BBC Design & Engineering , and is led by Jatin Aythora, Director, Research & Development. In 2011, the North Lab moved into MediaCityUK in Salford along with several other departments of the BBC, whilst the South Lab remained in White City in London. In April 1930
549-585: A particularly active area for open source ideas to move between them. Examples of open-source hardware products can also be found to a lesser extent in construction (Wikihouse), textile (Kit Zéro Kilomètres), and firearms ( 3D printed firearm , Defense Distributed ). Rather than creating a new license, some open-source hardware projects use existing, free and open-source software licenses. These licenses may not accord well with patent law . Later, several new licenses were proposed, designed to address issues specific to hardware design. In these licenses, many of
610-639: A physically nearly identical v2 board was released that features a Cortex-M4F microcontroller, with more memory and other new features. The physical board measures 43 mm × 52 mm and, in its first production run, included: I/O includes three ring connectors (plus one power one ground) which accept crocodile clips or 4 mm banana plugs as well as a 25-pin edge connector with two or three PWM outputs, six to 17 GPIO pins (depending on configuration), six analog inputs, serial I/O, SPI , and I²C . Unlike early prototypes, which had an integral battery, an external battery pack (AAA batteries) can be used to power
671-574: A proprietary license, and the Balloon Project wrote their own license. The adjective "open-source" not only refers to a specific set of freedoms applying to a product, but also generally presupposes that the product is the object or the result of a "process that relies on the contributions of geographically dispersed developers via the Internet ." In practice however, in both fields of open-source hardware and open-source software, products may either be
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#1733093648091732-955: A scientific journal HardwareX . It has featured many examples of applications of open-source hardware for scientific purposes. Further, Vasilis Kostakis [ et ] et al have argued that open-source hardware may promote values of equity, diversity and sustainability. Open-source hardware initiative transcend traditional dichotomies of global-local, urban-rural, and developed-developing contexts. They may leverage cultural differences, environmental conditions, and local needs/resources, while embracing hyper-connectivity, to foster sustainability and collaboration rather than conflict. However, open-source hardware does face some challenges and contradictions. It must navigate tensions between inclusiveness, standardization, and functionality. Additionally, while open-source hardware may reduce pressure on natural resources and local populations, it still relies on energy- and material-intensive infrastructures, such as
793-702: A specific open-source electronic component such as the Arduino electronics prototyping platform. There are many examples of specialty open-source electronics such as low-cost voltage and current GMAW open-source 3-D printer monitor and a robotics-assisted mass spectrometry assay platform. Open-source electronics finds various uses, including automation of chemical procedures. Open Standard chip designs are now common. OpenRISC (2000 - LGPL / GPL), OpenSparc (2005 - GPLv2), and RISC-V (2010 - Open Standard, free to implement for non-commercial purposes), are examples of free to use instruction set architecture . OpenCores
854-427: A successful roll-out of the micro:bit across the UK, the BBC handed over the future of the BBC micro:bit, and adoption in other parts of the world, to the newly formed, not-for-profit, Microbit Education Foundation. The announcement was made on 18 October 2016 to a small group of journalists and educators at Savoy Place in London, that included a review of the past year and their plans for the future. The transition from
915-430: Is a large library of standard chip design subcomponents which can be combined into larger designs. Complete open source software stacks and shuttle fabrication services are now available which can take OSH chip designs from hardware description languages to masks and ASIC fabrication on maker-scale budgets. Purely mechanical OSH designs include mechanical components, machine tools, and vehicles. Open Source Ecology
976-750: Is a large project which seeks to develop a complete ecosystem of mechanical tools and components which aim to be able to replicate themselves. Open-source vehicles have also been developed including bicycles like XYZ Space Frame Vehicles and cars such as the Tabby OSVehicle. Most OSH systems combine elements of electronics and mechanics to form mechatronics systems. A large range of open-source mechatronic products have been developed, including machine tools, musical instruments, and medical equipment. Examples of open-source machine tools include 3D printers such as RepRap , Prusa , and Ultimaker , 3D printer filament extruders such as polystruder XR PRO as well as
1037-528: Is accepted as of 2016 by dozens of organizations and companies. In July 2011, CERN ( European Organization for Nuclear Research ) released an open-source hardware license, CERN OHL . Javier Serrano, an engineer at CERN's Beams Department and the founder of the Open Hardware Repository, explained: "By sharing designs openly, CERN expects to improve the quality of designs through peer review and to guarantee their users – including commercial companies –
1098-530: Is an essential factor facilitating product replication and collaboration in hardware development projects. Practical guides have been developed to help practitioners to do so. Another option is to design products so they are easy to replicate, as exemplified in the concept of open-source appropriate technology . The process of developing open-source hardware in a community-based setting is alternatively called open design , open source development or open source product development . All these terms are examples of
1159-426: Is an ethical imperative for open-source hardware – specifically with respect to open-source appropriate technology for sustainable development . In 2014, he also wrote the book Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs , which details the development of free and open-source hardware primarily for scientists and university faculty . Pearce in partnership with Elsevier introduced
1220-409: Is described as half the size of a credit card and has an ARM Cortex-M0 processor, accelerometer and magnetometer sensors, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, a display consisting of 25 LEDs , two programmable buttons, and can be powered by either USB or an external battery pack. The device inputs and outputs are through five ring connectors that form part of a larger 25-pin edge connector. In October 2020,
1281-673: Is distributed under the terms of the Solderpad Hardware Licence, Version 0.51. The available design documentation for the reference design includes both schematic and circuit board layout in several EDA suite formats. On 13 October 2020, the Micro:bit Educational Foundation has announced a revised version of micro:bit. Available for the same price as the original micro:bit and sharing its general design, micro:bit v2 includes Nordic nRF52833 CPU (ARM Cortex-M4, 64 MHz, 128 KB RAM, 512 KB flash), and additionally
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#17330936480911342-476: Is fully documented. v2, released on 13 October 2020, includes: In micro:bit v2, the reset button can be used to turn the board off by holding it for 3 seconds. There are three official code editors on the micro:bit foundation web site : The Python programming experience on the Micro Bit is provided by MicroPython . Users are able to write Python scripts in the Micro Bit web editor which are then combined with
1403-561: Is now known as open-source hardware). In a 2015 article in Wired Magazine, he modified this attitude; he acknowledged the importance of free hardware, but still saw no ethical parallel with free software. Also, Stallman prefers the term free hardware design over open source hardware , a request which is consistent with his earlier rejection of the term open source software (see also Alternative terms for free software ). Other authors, such as Professor Joshua Pearce have argued there
1464-825: Is the scientific community. There has been considerable work to produce open-source hardware for scientific hardware using a combination of open-source electronics and 3-D printing . Other sources of open-source hardware production are vendors of chips and other electronic components sponsoring contests with the provision that the participants and winners must share their designs. Circuit Cellar magazine organizes some of these contests. A guide has been published ( Open-Source Lab (book) by Joshua Pearce ) on using open-source electronics and 3D printing to make open-source labs . Today, scientists are creating many such labs. Examples include: Open hardware companies are experimenting with business models . For example, littleBits implements open-source business models by making available
1525-607: The Four Freedoms . The term hardware in open-source hardware has been historically used in opposition to the term software of open-source software. That is, to refer to the electronic hardware on which the software runs (see previous section). However, as more and more non-electronic hardware products are made open source (for example WikiHouse , OpenBeam or Hovalin), this term tends to be used back in its broader sense of "physical product". The field of open-source hardware has been shown to go beyond electronic hardware and to cover
1586-956: The Open Source Definition , co-founder of the Open Source Initiative , and a ham radio operator . He launched the Open Hardware Certification Program, which had the goal of allowing hardware manufacturers to self-certify their products as open. Shortly after the launch of the Open Hardware Certification Program, David Freeman announced the Open Hardware Specification Project (OHSpec), another attempt at licensing hardware components whose interfaces are available publicly and of creating an entirely new computing platform as an alternative to proprietary computing systems. In early 1999, Sepehr Kiani, Ryan Vallance and Samir Nayfeh joined efforts to apply
1647-472: The open-source model applicable for the development of any product, including software, hardware, cultural and educational. Does open design and open-source hardware design process involves new design practices, or raises requirements for new tools? is the question of openness really key in OSH?. See here for a delineation of these terms. A major contributor to the production of open-source hardware product designs
1708-402: The peak programme meter (PPM) which became the basis for many world standards. It has also been involved in many well-known consumer technologies such as teletext , DAB , NICAM and Freeview . It was at the forefront of the development of FM radio , stereo FM, and RDS . These innovations have led to Queen's Awards for Innovation in 1969, 1974, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2001 and 2011. In
1769-442: The photovoltaic industry has experimented with partnerships, franchises, secondary supplier and completely open-source models. Recently, many open-source hardware projects have been funded via crowdfunding on platforms such as Indiegogo , Kickstarter , or Crowd Supply . Richard Stallman , the founder of the free software movement, was in 1999 skeptical on the idea and relevance of free hardware (his terminology for what
1830-575: The 1970s, its engineers designed the famous LS3/5A studio monitor for use in outside broadcasting units. Licensed to manufacturers, the loudspeaker sold 100,000 pairs in its 20+ years' life. In early 2010 the department had approximately 135 staff based at three locations: White City in London, Kingswood Warren in Kingswood, Surrey , and the R&;D (North Lab) at the BBC's Manchester offices at New Broadcasting House , Oxford Road, Manchester . In early 2010
1891-403: The BBC to the micro:bit Education Foundation moved the official home of the micro:bit from microbit.co.uk to microbit.org . The BBC licensed the hardware technology as open source and allows it to be manufactured around the world for use in education. The foundation oversees this. On 2 January 2018, it was announced that Gareth Stockdale from BBC Learning would succeed Zach Shelby as CEO of
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1952-715: The Development section of the BBC became the Research Department. The department as it stands today was formed in 1993 from the merger of the BBC Designs Department and the BBC Research Department. From 2006 to 2008 it was known as Research and Innovation but has since reverted to its original name. BBC Research & Development has made major contributions to broadcast technology , carrying out original research in many areas, and developing items like
2013-797: The Internet. Despite these complexities, Kostakis et al argue, the open-source hardware framework can serve as a catalyst for connecting and unifying diverse local initiatives under radical narratives, thus inspiring genuine change. OSH has grown as an academic field through the two journals Journal of Open Hardware (JOH) and HardwareX . These journals compete to publish the best OSH designs, and each define their own requirements for what constitutes acceptable quality of design documents, including specific requirements for build instructions, bill of materials, CAD files, and licences. These requirements are often used by other OSH projects to define how to do an OSH release. These journals also publish papers contributing to
2074-712: The Kingswood Warren site was vacated and the bulk of the department relocated to Centre House, in White City, London co-locating with the main campus of the BBC in London, whilst a significant number have moved to the new North Lab in MediaCityUK in Salford . As of 2020 BBC R&D has more than 200 employees in their UK labs. BBC R&D engineers and researchers are currently active on approximately 50 projects, including 7 active national and international collaborative research efforts. These include R&D projects built around BBC Redux —the proof of concept for
2135-623: The MicroPython firmware and uploaded to the device. Users can also access the MicroPython REPL running directly on the device via the USB serial connection, which allows them to interact directly with the Micro Bit's peripherals. The Micro Bit was created using the ARM mbed development kits. The run-time system and programming interface utilize the mbed cloud compiler service to compile the user's code into
2196-475: The Microbit Educational Foundation. The foundation is also providing a fully documented reference design of a device different from the marketed, but software compatible, with the intention of easing the independent development and manufacturing of micro:bit derived devices and products. The reference design is open source hardware, but unlike the marketed device employing a CC BY 4.0 license it
2257-913: The OSHW Definition and the concerted efforts of those involved with it. Openhardware.org, led by Bruce Perens, promotes and identifies practices that meet all the combined requirements of the Open Source Hardware Definition, the Open Source Definition, and the Four Freedoms of the Free Software Foundation Since 2014 openhardware.org is not online and seems to have ceased activity. The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) at oshwa.org acts as hub of open-source hardware activity of all genres, while cooperating with other entities such as TAPR, CERN, and OSI. The OSHWA
2318-626: The TAPR Open Hardware License, Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 and GPL 3.0 license. Organizations tend to rally around a shared license. For example, OpenCores prefers the LGPL or a Modified BSD License , FreeCores insists on the GPL , Open Hardware Foundation promotes " copyleft or other permissive licenses", the Open Graphics Project uses a variety of licenses, including the MIT license , GPL , and
2379-541: The circuit designs in each electronics module, in accordance with the CERN Open Hardware License Version 1.2. Another example is Arduino , which registered its name as a trademark ; others may manufacture products from Arduino designs but cannot call the products Arduino products. There are many applicable business models for implementing some open-source hardware even in traditional firms. For example, to accelerate development and technical innovation,
2440-402: The debate about how OSH should be defined and used. BBC Research %26 Development BBC Research & Development is the technical research department of the BBC . It has responsibility for researching and developing advanced and emerging media technologies for the benefit of the corporation, and wider UK and European media industries, and is also the technical design authority for
2501-504: The device as a standalone or wearable product. Health and safety concerns, as well as cost, were given as reasons for the removal of the button battery from early designs. The available hardware design documentation consist of only the schematic and BOM distributed under the Creative Commons By Attribution license, no PCB layout is available. The compatible reference design by Micro:bit Educational Foundation, however,
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2562-479: The early to mid 2000s, FreeIO was a focus of free/open hardware designs released under the GNU General Public License . The FreeIO project advocated the concept of Free Hardware and proposed four freedoms that such hardware provided to users, based on the similar freedoms provided by free software licenses. The designs gained some notoriety due to Martin's naming scheme in which each free hardware project
2623-455: The freedom to study, modify and manufacture them, leading to better hardware and less duplication of efforts". While initially drafted to address CERN-specific concerns, such as tracing the impact of the organization's research, in its current form it can be used by anyone developing open-source hardware. Following the 2011 Open Hardware Summit, and after heated debates on licenses and what constitutes open-source hardware, Bruce Perens abandoned
2684-534: The fundamental principles expressed in open-source software (OSS) licenses have been "ported" to their counterpart hardware projects. New hardware licenses are often explained as the "hardware equivalent" of a well-known OSS license, such as the GPL , LGPL , or BSD license . Despite superficial similarities to software licenses , most hardware licenses are fundamentally different: by nature, they typically rely more heavily on patent law than on copyright law, as many hardware designs are not copyrightable. Whereas
2745-596: The general copyleft licenses the GNU General Public License (GPL) and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, from the hardware-specific copyleft licenses the CERN Open Hardware License (OHL) and TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL) and from the permissive licenses the FreeBSD license , the MIT license , and the Creative Commons Attribution license. Openhardware.org recommended in 2012
2806-610: The goals of supporting R&D efforts in the area of amateur digital communications, created in 2007 the first open hardware license, the TAPR Open Hardware License . The OSI president Eric S. Raymond expressed some concerns about certain aspects of the OHL and decided to not review the license. Around 2010 in context of the Freedom Defined project, the Open Hardware Definition was created as collaborative work of many and
2867-481: The hardware itself as well as the information on communication protocols that the software (usually in the form of device drivers ) must use in order to communicate with the hardware (often called register documentation, or open documentation for hardware ), whereas open-source-friendly proprietary hardware would only include the latter without including the former. The first hardware-focused " open source " activities were started around 1997 by Bruce Perens , creator of
2928-641: The idea of zero cost and the freedom to use and modify information. While open-source hardware faces challenges in minimizing cost and reducing financial risks for individual project developers, some community members have proposed models to address these needs Given this, there are initiatives to develop sustainable community funding mechanisms, such as the Open Source Hardware Central Bank. Extensive discussion has taken place on ways to make open-source hardware as accessible as open-source software . Providing clear and detailed product documentation
2989-425: The issue of proprietary device drivers for the free and open-source software community, however, it is not a pre-requisite for it, and should not be confused with the concept of open documentation for proprietary hardware, which is already sufficient for writing FLOSS device drivers and complete operating systems. The difference between the two concepts is that OSH includes both the instructions on how to replicate
3050-429: The laser cutter Lasersaur . Examples of open source medical equipment include open-source ventilators , the echostethoscope echOpen, and a wide range of prosthetic hands listed in the review study by Ten Kate et.al. (e.g. OpenBionics' Prosthetic Hands). Open source robotics combines open source hardware mechatronics with open source AI and control software. Due to the mixture of hardware and software it serves as
3111-452: The majority of the development costs were borne by the project partners. The development of the Micro Bit is a product of a number of partners working with the BBC: A prototype device and software stack created by BBC R&D , demonstrated in the initial announcement, was used to test the proposition in schools, and to provide a reference specification for the partnership to build upon. After
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#17330936480913172-475: The most popular types of open-source hardware. PCB based designs can be published similarly to software as CAD files, which users can send directly to PCB fabrication companies and receive a build from them in the mail. Or users can obtain components and solder them together themselves. There are many companies that provide large varieties of open-source electronics such as Sparkfun , Adafruit , and Seeed. In addition, there are NPOs and companies that provide
3233-478: The open-source philosophy to machine design applications. Together they established the Open Design Foundation (ODF) as a non-profit corporation and set out to develop an Open Design Definition. However, most of these activities faded out after a few years. A "Free Hardware" organization, known as FreeIO, was started in the late 1990s by Diehl Martin, who also launched a FreeIO website in early 2000. In
3294-442: The project, ensure continuity in a context of fickle participation of voluntary project members, among others. One of the major differences between developing open-source software and developing open-source hardware is that hardware results in tangible outputs, which cost money to prototype and manufacture. As a result, the phrase "free as in speech, not as in beer", more-formally known as gratis versus libre , distinguishes between
3355-549: The reason they "plumped for Year 7, rather than Year 5, is it had more impact with that age group as they were more interested in using it outside the classroom". Planning for the project began in 2012 as part of the BBC Computer Literacy Programme, and by the time of the launch in July 2015 the BBC had taken on board 29 partners to help with the manufacturing, design, and distribution of the device. The BBC has said that
3416-461: The result of a development process performed by a closed team in a private setting or by a community in a public environment, the first case being more frequent than the second which is more challenging. Establishing a community-based product development process faces several challenges such as: to find appropriate product data management tools, document not only the product but also the development process itself, accepting losing ubiquitous control over
3477-470: The roll-out an online simulator was made available to help educators prepare and some teachers were to receive the device in September 2015. The device was planned to be on general sale by the end of 2015. However, problems delayed the launch until 22 March 2016. The BBC had a difficult decision to choose which year group would be the first to receive the free micro:bits, and the BBC's head of learning said that
3538-419: The schematics, hardware description language (HDL) code is shared. HDL descriptions are commonly used to set up system-on-a-chip systems either in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or directly in application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designs. HDL modules, when distributed, are called semiconductor intellectual property cores , also known as IP cores. Open-source hardware also helps alleviate
3599-634: Was designed to encourage children to get actively involved in writing software for computers and building new things, rather than being consumers of media. It was also designed to work alongside other systems (such as the Raspberry Pi ) and build on BBC's legacy with the BBC Micro for computing in education. The BBC planned to give away the computer free to every Year 7 (ages 11 and 12) child in Britain starting from October 2015 - around 1 million devices. In advance of
3660-733: Was established as an organization in June 2012 in Delaware and filed for tax exemption status in July 2013. After some debates about trademark interferences with the OSI, in 2012 the OSHWA and the OSI signed a co-existence agreement. The FOSSi Foundation is founded in 2015 as a UK -based non-profit to promote and protect the open source silicon chip movement, roughly a year after the official release of RISC-V architecture. The Free Software Foundation has suggested an alternative "free hardware" definition derived from
3721-410: Was given the name of a breakfast food such as Donut, Flapjack, Toast, etc. Martin's projects attracted a variety of hardware and software developers as well as other volunteers. Development of new open hardware designs at FreeIO ended in 2007 when Martin died of pancreatic cancer but the existing designs remain available from the organization's website. By the mid 2000s open-source hardware again became
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