As I see it, open-source software and hardware for complex systems provides the basis to further society as a whole. Whether the software or hardware is a commercial paid-for product or free (as in source code/hardware) DIY project, by being open to modification in whatever license possible (even no-distribution, non-commercial licenses), products can be individually tailored to ones need based on their expertise. As such, I plan on placing significant efforts on creating different open-source software, firmware, and hardware throughout different fields to help provide the basis to spread this philosophy so everyone can benefit as a whole.

As a first initiative acting upon my philosophy, I plan on developing the first complete open-source synchronizer device (also known as a digital pulse generator) for the purposes of fluid flow diagnostics. This primarily targets particle image velocimetry (PIV), an approximately instantaneous and indirect optical technique for measuring fluids, which is primarily dominated by very expensive commercial/propietary software and hardware. Although there has been recent efforts to lower the burdening costs of obtaining a PIV system through in-house thrown-together systems or entry level proprietary systems, there has yet to be a complete, research-grade open source PIV system which could further reduce costs-of-ownership to a more manageable level. This is where I hope my efforts would provide some serious value to this community and further the open-source community as a whole.

OpenPIV is the organization that first introduced me to fluid dynamics. OpenPIV provides open-source software to perform digital PIV analysis on already aquired images. As such, I plan to eventually extend OpenPIV to include both software and hardware components to create a complete open-source PIV solution. This includes native interoptability with commercial systems using Nd:YAG/Nd:YLF lasers.