Advertisement Feature Cover Story Open Source Hardware changes the game
Lynnette Reese at Mouser Electronics takes a look at how open Source Hardware is coming to be a real game changer for the electronics industry, driven by the modern trend towards the more ‘social’ open community
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mbedded technology is facili- tated by the standardisation of operating systems so that appli- cations can run on any platform that supports the standard. Consider the overwhelming success of the open source software (OSS) movement. For software, it means that source code is free to obtain, use, and revise without payment of any kind to the originators. In return it is expected that the user will credit the original source of the code and perhaps contribute code back to the originating community.
Cases in point
Linux enabled Google to build dirt- cheap servers; Java, Perl, and Ruby have become the lingua franca for building Web 2.0 applications; and the free Web-server software Apache enables nearly half of all the world’s web sites. OSS can be said to have given birth to the Internet age, making everyone – including those who donated their labour – better off. Likewise, Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is a potential game changer for the electronics market. Open source hardware (OSHW) is a compo- nent or device that has been licensed to allow anyone to examine, duplicate, and modify the hardware. With open source, you can share and adapt the work freely, and if you choose to sell or distribute it, you can do so under the same license.
The main difference between OSHW and OSS is that OSS is com- pletely free if you consider using the Internet to transfer source code as ‘free’. OSHW involves cost of the materials. So the real point here is that
the hardware IP is what is free. Contributors either make or purchase a platform before they can contribute Even so, multiple modifications and additions are uploaded by contribu- tors. For commercial ventures it allows for fast prototyping and produces a device that may be iteratively tweaked; the entire design is out in the open. As with OSS, sharing with the OSHW community is not only allowed, it’s encouraged. One example of OSHW is the Arduino platform where commer- cial re-use of Arduino designs requires no royalties. Mouser Electronics offers the Arduino line, which supports ARM- based processors, as well as other OSHW lines: the Beagleboard using Texas Instruments’ processors, the Pinguino and ChipKit with Microchip processors, and the Freescale Olimex, among others. (Figure 1).
Unlike a free reference design, OSHW typically involves a community of developers that contribute their time and expertise with no expectation of payment. Some of the best benefits of open source are that many people with varying experience participate, which creates more robust designs, and offers collective intellectual property for free. Integrity, technological intelligence, and the elegance and cleverness in the execution of a solution are all rewarded; and this easier, faster, and cheaper way to design could funda- mentally shift the hardware design and manufacturing paradigm.
In supporting the OSHW commu-
nity, Mouser Electronics stocks and delivers the newest OSHW offerings. A powerful development board that is difficult to keep on the shelf is the
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Figure 1:
Mouser Electronics Arduino line, which supports ARM- based processors, as well as other OSHW lines.
Arduino Due. It’s based on the Atmel SAM3X8E ARM Cortex-M3 microcon- troller running up to 84MHz. Open source hardware allows people to quickly create products that solve problems or merely entertain. The distributor also supplies the BeagleBone developed by
BeagleBoard.organd manufactured by Circuit Co. This device is based on the ARM Cortex-A8 processor that runs Android 4.0 and Ubuntu soft- ware. Open-source Linux developers can easily add peripheral functionality with plug-in boards called ‘capes’, enabling rapid product development.
Lynnette Reese is Technical Marketing Manager at Mouser Electronics
Another solution the distributor carries is from Microchip Technology and is the chipKIT UNO32 Arduino- Compatible 32-Bit MCU development platform. The environment is based on the original Arduino IDE, and is modi- fied to support PIC32 devices while supporting the Arduino line. This platform allows development of original applications easily and quickly. Other leading OSHW suppliers include Olimex,
Pandaboard.org, and Solder- Core, using ARM-based processors from Freescale and Texas Instruments. New code or hardware is useless and gets ignored if it doesn’t play well with other established modules. OSHW is less shareable because it requires physi- cal goods and money as the source, or ‘tree’ to build upon. With OSHW, it either works on the base platform or it doesn’t. Arduino has followed the Linux model by establishing proven hardware modules called ‘shields’ that provide technology options, such as Ethernet capability. OSHW and OSS are both governed by technology standards. Technology will not work well if the standards are not followed, whether it is hardware or software.
Meanwhile, OSHW is another way to go green. In ‘the old days’ appliances were kept for years and repaired; most user manuals came with a schematic. Nowadays it is often cheaper to buy a new product than to repair it. OSHW changes the game in that a customer can have access to schematics and help online. As resources become more constrained, repair may be the lower-cost approach again someday. In the future, perhaps only a significant improvement in energy efficiency could cause a new purchase. Whether the reason is to jump-start a new product design or investigate a new technology,
Mouser.com has everything you need to embark on a voyage of discovery into open source hardware. The distributor stocks one of the widest selections of the newest products with same day shipping.
12 NOVEMBER 2013 Electronics
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