Open Hardware

Published in

Crux Learnings.

4 min readAug 24, 2021

Open Hardware is a concept that has always been in constant evolution as many other aspects in the field of computer technologies, but currently the major concession is that Open Hardware is that hardware whose schematic diagrams and technical specifications are publicly available regardless of the monetary cost.

The issue of cost in relation to Open Hardware has been widely debated, since due to translation problems the word “Libre” has been misinterpreted, which in English can be Free or Free and this has led to think that Open Hardware must be free, something that often happens with its big brother Open Software. However, being physical components it is very difficult to reduce to zero the cost of production due to the materials and their manufacture.

Open Software is considered as the big brother of Open Hardware since the latter first established the conditions to define a program can be considered Open Software, these conditions are known as the 4 freedoms of Open Software and are the following:

- Freedom 0: To be able to use the program for any purpose.

- Freedom 1: To be able to study how the program works and to be able to modify it.

- Freedom 2: To be able to distribute copies of the program.

- Freedom 3: To be able to improve the program and to be able to share those improvements.

Electronics enthusiasts rely on these freedoms to apply them to Open Hardware, always taking into account the materials and manufacturing cost, i.e. these freedoms apply to schematic diagrams and technical specifications, as well as any source code needed for the operation of the final product.

So one of the objectives of Open Hardware is to achieve the improvement of education regarding the operation of electronic devices by providing access to the components of a device in an ethical and legal way.

For the incursion into important processes of development and implementation of solutions using Open Hardware, a Design phase, a Proof of Concept phase, a Prototyping phase and a Product phase are recommended.

Design Phase: In this phase all the tasks related to the investigation and identification of the customer’s problems and needs must be carried out, as well as the analysis of all possible feasible solutions.

Proof of Concept Phase: It is in this phase where all the work of component diagramming, programming, functional tests and adjustments are carried out, using configurable hardware components and other elements such as wiring, sensors and protoboards.

Prototype Phase: In this phase the wiring and protoboards are left aside to use PCBs or Printed Circuit Boards to produce a functional device that is not reconfigurable at hardware level, only software or firmware.

Product Phase: This is when the prototype demonstrates that it satisfies the needs and has the capacity to be mass-produced or batch-produced to be offered and installed as a finished product.

All this leads us to mention which are the most common uses of Open Hardware, for example, home automation (home automation), medicine (electronic prostheses and medical equipment), robotics, automation of production processes, for this type of implementations highlights the use of Arduino, the platform that has allowed the democratization of Open Hardware. This platform allows us to program in C language from its own IDE or it is also possible to do it with MS Visual Studio.

Many start in this world of Open Hardware as a hobby or as a complement to their professional careers, generally the most basic projects to start are implementations related to home automation, for example, the automation of the lights in a room, closed circuit security cameras with remote access, security alarms or irrigation systems for gardens. For all these types of projects there is extensive documentation and tutorials on the Internet, both in text and video.

Although it is possible that some previous electronic knowledge is required to develop the first projects, the existing tutorials on the internet are very complete and are diluting all that technical information in a simple, practical and easy to understand, so it is not required to be an electronics engineer, and another advantage is that the electronic components, mainly those compatible with Arduino have a very low cost as well as electronic tools.

The programming of the components may also require basic knowledge in C language, but as mentioned above the tutorials on the internet also detail the instructions in C required for the operation of the prototypes, plus much of the operation can be implemented with the use of libraries that are already fully tested and functional.

And to conclude I have to say that the world of Open Hardware is very wide and full of possibilities for all those who are looking for new challenges or require to solve automation needs or similar. In the following image are some recommended YouTube channels to take your first steps mainly with Arduino.

Links of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/user/McMchriis

https://www.youtube.com/user/bourlotg

https://www.youtube.com/user/editronikx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp8eSCuQqb0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIzEkzSvYFY&t=62s

References:

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.es.html

https://www.bbva.com/es/que-es-el-hardware-libre/

https://www.ecured.cu/Hardware_libre