The open source hardware in electronics (and

Faculté Polytechnique
[ Jeudis du Libre, UMONS (FPMs), Mons – Thursday
18th December 2014 ]
The open source hardware in
electronics (and beyond...)
Dr Ir Robert Viseur
Department of Economy and Innovation Management
Part 1
Basis about software licenses and
business models
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Free / Open Source
Software
Free Software Definition.
– Four freedoms (see www.gnu.org).
Open Source Definition.
– Ten criteria (see opensource.org).
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Software licenses (1/2)
Three types of licenses:
– Proprietary licenses.
• E.g. CLUF for Microsoft softwares.
– Hybrid licences (rare).
• E.g. former SCSL for Sun Microsystems softwares.
– Free software licenses.
• E.g. AL, BSD, GPL, LGPL,...
• More or less 70 free software licenses.
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Software licenses (2/2)
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Free software licenses
(1/2)
Two families of free software licenses:
– Permissive / academic licenses.
– Copyleft / restrictive licenses (licenses with
reciprocity).
Three types of licenses with
reciprocity.
– Weak reciprocity.
• File-based, or not.
– Strong reciprocity.
– Network reciprocity.
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Free software licenses
(2/2)
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Business models for free and
open source softwares (1/2)
Trade-off between value creation and
value capture.
– Value creation:
• Investment in R&D.
• Collaboration with community (open source
innovation).
– Value capture:
• Weak appropriability regime.
• Often: indirect valuation (eg. services, advertising,
etc.).
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Business models for free and
open source softwares (2/2)
Services (« best knowledge here »).
– Common services: custom software development,
installation and integration, training, etc.
– New SaaS and cloud computing opportunities.
Dual licensing schemes.
– Without technical differenciation.
– With technical differentiation.
– Opencore schemes (e.g. free kernel + private addons).
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Part 2
Business models of open hardware
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What is open hardware ?
Definition from Open Hardware Summit and
then Open Source Hardware Association.
– See details at http://www.oshwa.org/definition/.
Inspired by Open Source Definition from Open
Source Initiative (opensource.org).
More communly accepted than previous
definitions.
New initiative: OHANDA label (see
www.ohanda.org).
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Open Source Hardware
(OSHW) Definition 1.0 (1/3)
1. Documentation
– The hardware must be released with documentation including design files,
and must allow modification and distribution of the design files.
2. Scope
– The documentation for the hardware must clearly specify what portion of
the design, if not all, is being released under the license.
3. Necessary Software
– If the licensed design requires software, the interfaces must be
sufficiently documented or the necessary software must be released
under an OSI-approved open source license.
4. Derived Works
– The license shall allow modifications and derived works, and shall allow
them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original
work.
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Open Source Hardware
(OSHW) Definition 1.0 (2/3)
5. Free redistribution
– The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the project
documentation.
6. Attribution
– The license may require derived documents, and copyright notices associated
with devices, to provide attribution to the licensors when distributing design files,
manufactured products, and/or derivatives thereof.
7. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
– The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
8. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
– The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the work (including
manufactured hardware) in a specific field of endeavor.
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Open Source Hardware
(OSHW) Definition 1.0 (3/3)
9. Distribution of License
– The rights granted by the license must apply to all to whom the work is
redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by
those parties.
10. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
– The rights granted by the license must not depend on the licensed work
being part of a particular product.
11. License Must Not Restrict Other Hardware or Software
– The license must not place restrictions on other items that are
aggregated with the licensed work but not derivative of it.
12. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
– No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual
technology, specific part or component, material, or style of interface or
use thereof.
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Protection of hardware
(1/3)
Some items to protect:
– the source code for electronics (e.g.: VHDL or Verilog source
codes),
– the source code for associated softwares (e.g. development
tools, SDK, etc.),
– the schematics, the design files and the technical drawings
(hardware design),
– the aesthetic value,
– the documentations,
– the brands.
IP tools: mainly copyrights, industrial design rights,
patents and trademarks.
– Other: protection for the topographies of semiconductor
products.
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Protection of hardware
(2/3)
Frequent use of Creative Commons
licenses.
– Attention to NC clause.
Frequent use of widely used free
software licenses.
– Mainly BSD, GPL and LGPL.
Dedicated licenses.
– Examples: TAPR OHL (see www.tapr.org/ohl.html)
or CERN OHL (see www.ohwr.org/cernohl).
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Protection of hardware
(3/3)
Licenses in real life (Viseur, 2012):
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Business models of open
hardware
Business models in real life (Viseur,
2012):
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Size of the market (1/2)
Strong rise of the number of projects
(Torrone & Fried, 2010):
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Size of the market (2/2)
Report from (Torrone & Fried, 2010):
– 13 companies representing approximately $50
million.
– About 200 projects in 2010.
– By 2015: +$1 billion collective.
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Still a blurred concept ?
Boundaries between openness and
freedom not always clear but...
– Ongoing standardization of the definition.
How open is open enough ?
– Open hardware often build on closed components.
– Community activities not always clear...
How to identify sustainable projects ?
– Think about free software success factors.
– Examples: modularity, standards, open governance
(community / ecosystem), etc.
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Part 3
Examples of open hardware
commercial projects
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LEON (Gaisler) (1/2)
VHDL model for 32 bits SPARCcompliant processor.
– Created by Jiri Gaisler and now supported by
Aeroflex Gaisler company (www.gaisler.com).
– SPARC: RISC open instruction set architecture
and registered trademark of SPARC
International, Inc.
– See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARC
and http://www.sparc.org/.
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LEON (Gaisler) (2/2)
Wide portfolio of products (LEON
family, and others) and services.
One of the products: GRLIB IP Library.
– Dual licensing scheme.
• Licenses: GPL or commercial license.
• See
http://www.gaisler.com/index.php/products/ipcores/soclib
rary.
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Arduino (Smart Projects)
(1/3)
Open source electronics prototyping
platform.
– See http://www.arduino.cc/ for more details.
– Manufactured by the Italian company Smart
Project (smartprj.com).
– Available with open source development
software.
– Tremendous success.
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Arduino (Smart Projects)
(2/3)
Enablers:
– Cheap, simple, released with integrated tools.
– Wide ecosystem.
• New open projects based on Arduino hardware.
• Examples: DIY Drones (diydrones.com), Photoduino
(photoduino.com), etc.
– Format for technically compatible extensions
(shields).
Several forks (true free project).
– Imitations and variations.
– Examples: Freeduino, Sanguino, etc.
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Arduino (Smart Projects)
(3/3)
Licenses:
– Design covered by CC-BY-SA license.
– Source code covered by GPL or LGPL licenses.
– Arduino is a trademark.
Revenues:
– Over $1 million in 2010 (Torrone & Fried, 2010).
– Based on services and sale of products.
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Elphel (1/3)
Elphel 353/363 network camera (www.elphel.com).
License: software and hardware under GPL v2.
– See http://www3.elphel.com/wiki/licensing for more details.
Revenues from the sales of products (several product
lines).
Discreet community.
Source of inspiration and technical basis for other
projects.
– Examples: Frankencamera prototype or Axiom project.
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Elphel (2/3)
Collaboration with
Google :
– Cameras for Google
Books.
– Cameras for Google
Streetview.
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Elphel (3/3)
Future project: Apertus (camera for cinema).
– Friendly fork (?): Axiom.
• First open digital cinema camera Axiom.
• Licenses:
– Software under the GNU General Public License V3.
– Documentation under the Creative Commons License.
– Hardware under the Cern Open Hardware License.
• Partnership with Dynamic Perception
(www.dynamicperception.com).
– See https://www.apertus.org/history.
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Part 4
Open hardware beyond electronic
stuffs
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Hexayurt (1/2)
« The Hexayurt is a refugee shelter system based on work
done at the Rocky Mountain Institute. It uses an approach
based on "autonomous building" to provide not just a
shelter, but a comprehensive family support unit which
includes drinking water purification, composting toilets,
fuel-efficient stoves and solar electric lighting. »
(see http://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt_Project & http://hexayurt.com/)
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Hexayurt (2/2)
Materials published in public domain.
Several variations around the first project.
Case of Open Source Appropriate Design:
« Appropriate technology (AT) is technology that is designed
with special consideration to the context of its use including environmental, ethical, cultural, social, political,
and economical aspects of the community it is intended
for. »
(see http://www.appropedia.org/Portal:Appropriate_technology)
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Open Reflex (1/3)
Open source project for a film camera (single lens reflex).
Following a pinhole project (« 3D Printed Pinhole Box »).
Printable with RepRap 3D printer (reprap.org).
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Open Reflex (2/3)
True open hardware project:
– Materials published under CC-BY-SA on:
•
•
•
•
author's blog (leomarius.com),
Thinkgiverse (www.thingiverse.com),
Instructables (instructables.com),
Dropbox (www.dropbox.com).
– Nascent community:
• New sub-projects.
• Collaborations (e.g. DIY AP-LENS).
More details:
leomarius.com/albums/openreflex/.
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Open Reflex (3/3)
Attempt to use crowdfunding.
– More details:
www.kisskissbankbank.com/en/projects/openreflex.
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OSVehicle TABBY (1/2)
OSVehicle
(www.osvehicle.com).
Creators of the Tabby /
Urban Tabby.
Urban quadricycle vehicle.
– « Twizy open source » ?
Tabby / Urban Tabby ?
– Tabby : « TABBY is an open
source framework for vehicles ».
– Urban Tabby : approved model.
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OSVehicle TABBY (2/2)
Materials published under CC-BY-SA.
– See
http://www.osvehicle.com/download/
.
Objective of creating an active
community.
– Actual status ?
Vehicle being bought in kit.
Services for local builders (emerging
countries).
– No complex production line.
– Very little investment.
Connected to Open Source
Appropriate Technology.
Estimated sales prices (assembled) :
6000 euros.
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NIKA (based on
OSVehicle)
« Designed and
engineered in Italy, NIKA
is the first OSV product
to introduce the
possibilities of an open
source connected car »
« API’s will be available
as an OSV standard to
enable the creation of
APPS »
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Stay tuned (1/3)
New exciting projects:
– Example:
OpenEnergyMonitor
system.
• Wireless sensor nodes that
send data at periodic
intervals to a web-connected
base-station.
• Based on Arduino.
– See more details at
http://openenergymonitor.or
g/emon/opensustech.
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Stay tuned (2/3)
New opportunities due to progress in:
– CAD open source softwares.
• See http://linuxfr.org/news/linux-et-lacommande-numerique-par-calculateur.
– 3D printers (and fablabs).
• See http://linuxfr.org/news/la-fr%C3%A9n
%C3%A9sie-des-imprimantes-3d.
Progressive adoption by industries.
– For example : Ford OpenXC
(openxcplatform.com).
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Stay tuned (3/3)
First project in Belgium :
– By Sibelga (Brussels distribution
network operator).
– OSH project Plugelec (digital
energy meter).
– New OSH license LOH DDC (see
http://sibelga.be/uploads/asset
s/471/fr/1415087108913LOH_DDC_V1-0_FR.pdf) by Me
Philippe Laurent.
– See details at
http://sibelga.be/openhardware/
fr.
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Thanks for your attention.
Any questions ?
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Some useful readings...
Anderson, C., « Makers : La nouvelle révolution industrielle », Pearson, 2012.
Baldwin, C.Y., Hienerth, C. and von Hippel, E., « How user innovations become commercial
products: a theoretical investigation and case study », Research Policy, 35, 9, 2006, pp.
1291–1313.
Eychenne, F., « Fab Lab : L'avant-garde de la nouvelle révolution industrielle », FYP
Éditions, 2012.
Laurent, P., « Les défis de la propriété intellectuelle face à l'innovation collaborative »,
Liège Créative, Liège, 18 novembre 2014.
Torrone, P., Fried, L., « Million dollar baby - Businesses designing and selling open source
hardware, making millions », O’Reilly’s foo camp east 2010, Microsoft’s NERD center (MIT
campus). Available at www.adafruit.com (read: March 6, 2012).
Viseur, R, « Pratiques innovantes dans le secteur automobile : du champion de produit à
l'innovation open source », , Rencontres mondiales du logiciel libre, Montpellier, 2014.
Viseur, R., « Hacker son appareil photo avec des outils libres », Rencontres mondiales du
logiciel libre, Montpellier, 2014.
Viseur, R, « Business models of open hardware », Rencontres Mondiales du Logiciel Libre,
Bruxelles, 2013.
Viseur, R., « From Open Source Software to Open Source Hardware », Open Source
Systems: Long-Term Sustainability. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2012. pp. 286-291.
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Contact
Dr Ir Robert Viseur
Mail :
Phone :
Website :
robert.viseur@umons.ac.be
0032 (0) 479 66 08 76
www.robertviseur.be
LinkedIn :
Twitter :
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertviseur
https://twitter.com/robertviseur
This presentation is covered by « CC-BY-ND » license.
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