According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a standard is “a document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics.” For researchers working within a particular domain, such as particle physics, standard technical specifications help ensure that hardware produced by one party can be used by others. For example, as early as 2009, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) began developing open hardware solutions for accelerator control systems that leverage a range of standard components, including FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC), and the Wishbone B4 specification. Standards help CERN researchers and their partners build accelerator control systems with components that are interoperable and well-documented to encourage reuse.

Similarly, the standard ISO/TS 20991:2018(en), Space systems— Requirement for small spacecraft, contains a set of consistent, agreed-upon requirements for topics ranging from design qualification to space debris mitigation. In addition, the standard contains specific guidelines for CubeSats. Among the Small Satellite community, this standard accelerated innovation by providing a common language for communities to converge around, providing a common benchmark for scientists to meet.

Standards also exist for how data are documented and exchanged. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is developing SensorThingsAPI to support interoperability between the data produced by small sensing devices, including those used in citizen science. For example, using the SensorThingsAPI format for air quality sensor data allows researchers and volunteers to compare data from different hardware devices.

Not all standards are technical. The Creative Commons (CC) develops and publishes standardized licenses for designating different levels of open access for published intellectual property. In some cases, CC standards have been used to document intellectual property for open source hardware design specifications, though these are primarily designed to license different types of creative content. Similarly, standards for Open Source Software (OSS), such as the MIT license, have been applied to hardware products in select cases, but don’t always cover all relevant aspects. In response, new licenses are being developed specifically for open source hardware, including the CERN Open Hardware License (OHL) and the TAPR Open Hardware License (OHL). The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) offers information on these licenses to help communities reach a standard understanding about what “open” hardware means.