IEEE PELS University Laboratory Kit

    Last updated: March 3, 2026

    License Overview

    The IEEE PELS University Laboratory Kit is an open educational platform. Different components of the project are licensed under different open licenses appropriate for software, hardware, and documentation.

    Documentation and Educational Materials

    Lab manuals, tutorials, images, and educational content are licensed under:

    Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

    Users may:

    • Share — copy and redistribute the material
    • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

    Under the following conditions:

    Attribution
    Proper credit must be given to the IEEE PELS University Laboratory Kit initiative and its authors.

    NonCommercial
    Educational materials may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.

    ShareAlike
    Derivative materials must be released under the same license.

    Full license details are available at:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

    Software and Firmware

    Firmware, code examples, and software associated with the kit are licensed under the:

    GNU General Public License version 3 (GPLv3)

    This ensures that if modified versions of the software are distributed, the corresponding source code must also be made available under the same license. This preserves the open-source nature of the software ecosystem.

    Full license details are available at: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html

    Hardware Design Files

    Hardware design files, including schematics, PCB layouts, BOMs, and manufacturing files, are licensed under the:

    CERN Open Hardware License v2 – Strongly Reciprocal (CERN-OHL-S v2)

    This ensures that if modified hardware designs are distributed, the corresponding design files must also be released under the same license.

    Full license details are available at: https://ohwr.org/cern_ohl_s_v2.txt

    University Distribution

    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign may distribute or sell physical laboratory kits associated with this initiative as part of its educational mission. The NonCommercial restriction applies to third-party reuse of the educational materials, not to the university’s own educational distribution.

    Project Attribution

    Any public use, redistribution, or derivative work based on the IEEE PELS University Laboratory Kit must include clear attribution to the original project. Suggested attribution: “Based on the IEEE PELS University Laboratory Kit developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.”

    Project Name Usage

    The name “IEEE PELS University Laboratory Kit” may not be used to promote derivative products without written permission from the project authors and/or IEEE Power Electronics Society.

    Contributor License Agreement

    By submitting code, documentation, or hardware design files to this project, contributors agree that their contributions may be distributed under the project licenses:

    • Software → GPLv3
    • Hardware → CERN-OHL-S v2
    • Documentation → CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

    Contributors affirm that they have the right to submit their work and grant these permissions.

    No Endorsement

    Use of these materials does not imply endorsement by the IEEE Power Electronics Society, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, or the authors.

    Contact for Licensing Questions

    For permissions beyond the scope of this license, please contact:

    Arijit Banerjee
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Email: arijit@illinois.edu