Openstrobe.org is an open source and open hardware project that started in 2021 with the main goal of sharing ideas, electronic and mechanical designs, and associated software to bring more safety to glider flying (also called sailplanes).

Gliding activities are very often based on sharing efforts to achieve flights. Almost no one can fly a glider without the help of others at some point. It is in this mindset of sharing practices and knowledge that safe flying resides.

With the rapid development of powerful LED components and the massive availability of component references on the market, it is now possible to use them to build very cost effective, and also energy efficient, flash or strobe systems to provide more visibility and thus reduce the risk of collision when gliding with others: friends near a home airfield, or competitors at a championship.

The anti-collision strobe system is based on several components:

• an electronic board that supports the LEDs and provides a power stage ready to supply the necessary power for the flashes, on demand.
• an electronic control and communication board, hosting the software on a microcontroller and able to provide communication functions with third party systems providing collision alerts, providing an HMI and control buttons, as well as supervision and good management of the energy available on board
• physical, 3D printable enclosures to protect the electronic boards and to be able to install the LEDs under a canopy, for example, while protecting the pilot from glare.

Safety is priceless, which is why the objective of this project is above all to allow everyone to share and use the work of others to improve the components for themselves or for their club in the spirit of opensource and openhardware.

This site is brand new, and will be completed very soon, including open access to the files of the first canopy strobe prototype that is currently being tested with the support of the AVAT glider club based in Toulouse, France.