Unlocking the Potential

A Course Curriculum Applying Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for Open Source Hardware (OSHW) in Academia

Dahl Winters

The lack of widespread use of OSHW in academia is likely due to a lack of awareness of its contributions outside of academia to academically relevant fields, one of which is sustainability. This curriculum describes how to apply model-based systems engineering (MBSE) to address several key issues preventing more widespread use of OSHW in academia. This is a living document meant for continual improvement, thus it is a work in progress.

blog image

We will demonstrate the use of a free and open source program for accomplishing this goal. This curriculum contains 11 modules, each presenting an issue impeding the broader adoption of OSHW in academia and how MBSE is well suited to overcome these issues.

The list of 11 issues are as follows:

  1. There are no unifying standards or best practices for creating high quality documentation.

  2. Documentation for OSHW projects is dispersed across many platforms, websites, wikis and blogs

  3. No clear definition of scope exists

  4. Lack of standard formats, clear organization, and technical jargon makes it difficult for the layperson to understand existing documentation

  5. Language is a barrier for the dissemination of open hardware plans

  6. There’s no simple way to remix and mashup hardware

  7. Derivative work is difficult to track

  8. Lack of appropriate software for designing, displaying and sharing plans makes collaborative development difficult

  9. It’s difficult to update and evolve open source hardware designs due to documentation dependencies

  10. Documentation is time-consuming

  11. Unclear licensing and fear of infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights discourage people from producing documentation