Open source · CERN-OHL-S-2.0
We sell hardware. The designs are yours.
Every OpenDrone board ships with its full source on GitHub: schematic, PCB, BOM and 3D STEP, under CERN-OHL-S v2. Read them, fork them, order your own copies, ship a variant. That isn't a marketing promise, it's the licence. What you pay for here is the production run, done properly.
01 · What you buy
A finished, tested, packaged board. Built in the EU where we can, produced in Asia where we can't, inspected, flashed, and shipped from Belgium. The price covers the PCB, the components, the assembly, the QC time, the packaging, the courier, VAT, support, and the engineering for the next revision. Nothing hidden in it.
02 · What stays open
- Schematic: the KiCad 9 project files, not just a PDF export. Every net and value is rebuildable from source.
- PCB layout: the same Gerbers and CPL we send to the fab. Not a “reference”, the actual production files.
- BOM: the same CSV the assembler gets, with real orderable LCSC part numbers, not generic MPNs you still have to chase down.
- 3D STEP: check clearance against your frame before you buy.
- Fab notes: the fab-ready export settings and the revision notes that explain what changed and why, spin after spin.
03 · Why CERN-OHL-S and not MIT
CERN-OHL-S v2 is a reciprocal, copyleft open-hardware licence. It keeps the design open: modify an OpenDrone board, ship your own version, and if someone asks for your sources, you hand them over on the same terms. The point isn't to stop clones. We can't, and we wouldn't want to. The point is that every clone carries its sources forward to the next maker.
Firmware stays under whatever its upstream uses. Betaflight, AM32 and ExpressLRS are all GPL-3.0. We don't relicense anyone's work.
04 · How the business stays solvent
Four revenue lines, roughly in order of expected size: retail margin on the boards we make, volume orders from schools and teams, paid consulting on custom variants, and a firmware split of €1 per unit forwarded to the upstream project the board runs. That last line exists because we build on decades of other people's open source. Paying a little of it back is the cheap, honest thing to do.
We don't make money from ads, affiliate trackers, resold analytics, bundled apps, or features locked behind firmware keys. Our analytics are cookieless (Plausible), and the product works whether or not this web store exists.
05 · What this means for you
- If OpenDrone disappears tomorrow, you still have the files. Anyone, including you, can order a revision and keep it alive.
- Want a 4" version, a 3S-only build, a heavier-copper variant? Fork it, change it, fab it. If it's good, open a PR upstream.
- Teacher or club? We would rather you copy the design than buy a cheap closed alternative.