OffBoard

Offboard is a term used across technology and organizational contexts with several related meanings. As an adjective or adverb, it describes something that is not mounted on or controlled by the main system, in contrast to on-board or on-board. In electronics, off-board components are connected to a circuit via connectors or cables rather than being soldered to the printed circuit board.

In robotics, automation, and computer engineering, offboard refers to processing, control, or storage that occurs on an external computer or controller rather than on the device itself. Offboard processing can provide greater computational power and ease of updates, but it requires reliable communication links, and considerations of latency, synchronization, and fault tolerance.

In unmanned systems such as drones, offboard control is commonly used to perform high-level planning, perception, or heavy computation on an external computer or ground station. Software frameworks and middleware (for example, Robot Operating System) often facilitate the interaction between on-board devices and offboard systems.

In software architecture, offboard computing describes tasks handled remotely or on cloud/edge infrastructure instead of on embedded hardware, enabling scalable resources and centralized management.

Offboarding, though related phonetically, is a distinct term in human resources and policy discussions. It refers to the process of transitioning a person out of an organization, including tasks such as knowledge transfer, asset return, access revocation, and final settlements. Etymologically, offboard derives from off + board; usage varies by field, with “offboard” or “off-board” common in technical contexts and “offboarding” in HR and organizational discussions.