The activity
All the Working Packages and sub-activities of the Optical Communications and Photonics MakerSpace project will be managed using open source and publicly-documented project management tools (like GitLab). This process is followed in order to ensure visibility and transparency for all participating stakeholders. In addition, regular stand-up and update meetings will be held for all Working Packages and sub-activities. This is to facilitate cross-project collaborations where seen fit and ensure tracking of accountability for all owners.
Scouting, description, formalization and initiation of sub-activities will take place in a fast-paced process; committing to less than a 3-week period from the inception of an idea about a sub-activity until the initiation of the work around it.
Libre Space Foundation (LSF) is embedded in the maker/hacker/DIY global community including the Greek one. It has been coordinating and initiating a number of relevant community-building efforts through a variety of activities. These include but are not limited to organising the first Open Source CubeSat Workshop (in 2017 on ESOC premises) and organising every other OSCW (6 in total so far). Running targeted workshops about GNU Radio in Greece and Europe, as well as running an online community about open source in space with a strong focus on communications and a rising focus on photonics.
For the purpose of the “Optical Makerspace” activity, Libre Space Foundation will continue the community-building activities focusing specifically on optical communications and photonics and utilizing its network to ensure synergy and up-levelled awareness within the target community. This will happen through a series of targeted communications (on mailing lists, forums, social media channels etc.), and targeted participation and/or driving of events (workshops, conventions, meetings and hackathons).
Background
Optical communications are the next revolution for Satcom, with a significant investment in resources, interest, research and development. Several R&D activities are carried out primarily with institutional (Agency, Gov, EU) and secondary market drive. These have rather limited attributes (scale, context, timeline, budget, and implementers) that exclude a set of initiatives and new players to contribute to such developments and to do so in a complementary and innovative way. These new players are part of the Maker movement that is slowly shaping the Makerspace ecosystem across Europe. This ecosystem is made up of different entities; including communities of individuals, start-up companies, crowd-funded projects, community initiatives, hackerspaces, multi-disciplinary academic labs, non-profit technology companies/foundations and others.
This project aims at orchestrating and running a number of experiments related to optical communications and photonics engaging with such communities and tapping into innovation in a beneficial way. The experiments will be focusing on prototyping tangible and measurable deliverables and creating building blocks that other projects can rely on in an iterative way promoting synergetic positive-feedback technology loops.