Over the past decade, the majority of new open source OS projects have shifted from the mobile market to the Internet of Things. In this fifth article in our IoT series, we look at the many new open source operating systems that target IoT. Our previous posts have examined open source IoT frameworks, as well as Linux- and open source development hardware for IoT and consumer smart home devices. But it all starts with the OS.
In addition to exploring new IoT-focused embedded Linux-based distributions, I’ve included a few older lightweight distributions like OpenWrt that have seen renewed uptake in the segment. While the Linux distros are aimed primarily at gateways and hubs, there has been equivalent growth in non-Linux, open source OSes for IoT that can run on microcontroller units (MCUs), and are typically aimed at IoT edge devices.
Keep in mind that almost all OSes these day are claiming some IoT connection, so the list is somewhat arbitrary. The contenders here fulfill most of the following properties: low memory footprint, high power efficiency, a modular and configurable communication stack, and strong support for specific wireless and sensor technologies. Some projects emphasize IoT security, and many of the non-Linux OSes focus on real-time determinism, which is sometimes a requirement in industrial IoT.
I have generally steered clear of Linux distros that are categorized as “lightweight” but are still largely aimed at desktop use or portable USB stick implementations, rather than headless devices. Still, lightweight Linux distros such as LXLE or Linux Lite could be good choices for IoT.
The choices were more difficult with non-Linux open source platforms. After all, most lightweight RTOSes can be used for IoT. I focused on the major platforms, or those that seemed to offer the most promise for IoT. Other potential candidates can be found at this Open Source RTOS site.
Not included here is Windows 10 for IoT Core, which is free to makers and supports AllJoyn and IoTivity, but is not fully open source. There are also a number of commercial RTOSes that are major players in IoT, such as Micrium’s µC/OS.
Nine Linux-based open source IoT distros
Brillo — In the year since Google released Brillo, the lightweight Android-based distro has seen growing adoption among hacker boards such as the Intel Edison and Dragonboard 410c, and even some computer-on-modules. The future of Brillo is tied to Google’s Weave communications protocol, which it requires. Weave brings discovery, provisioning, and authentication functions to Brillo, which can run on as little as 32MB RAM and 128MB flash.
Huawei LiteOS — Huawei’s LiteOS, which is not to be confused with the open source Unix variant, is said to be based on Linux, but it must be a very lean implementation indeed. Announced over a year ago, LiteOS is claimed to be deployable as a kernel as small as 10KB. LiteOS ranges from MCU-based devices to Android-compatible applications processors. The customizable OS is touted for its zero configuration, auto-discovery, auto-networking, fast boot, and real-time operation, and it offers extensive wireless support, including LTE and mesh networking. LiteOS is available with Huawei’s Agile IoT Solution, and it drives its Narrow-band IoT (NB-IoT) Solution.
OpenWrt/LEDE/Linino/DD-Wrt — The venerable, networking-focused OpenWrt embedded Linux distro has seen a resurgence due to the IoT craze. The lightweight OpenWrt is frequently found on routers and MIPS-based WiFi boards. Earlier spin-offs such as DD-Wrt and the Arduino-focused Linino have recently been followed by an outright fork. The Linux Embedded Development Environment (LEDE) project promises more transparent governance and predictable release cycles.
Ostro Linux — This Yocto Project based distro broke into the limelight in August when Intel chose it for its Intel Joule module, where it runs on the latest quad-core Atom T5700 SoC. Ostro Linux is compliant with IoTivity, supports numerous wireless technologies, and offers a sensor framework. It has a major focus on IoT security, providing OS-, device-, application, and data-level protections, including cryptography and MAC. The distribution is available in headless and media (XT) versions.
Raspbian — There are some other distributions for the Raspberry Pi that are more specifically aimed at IoT, but the quickly maturing Raspbian is still the best. Because it’s the most popular distro for DIY projects on one of the most widely used IoT platforms, developers can call upon numerous projects and tutorials for help. Now that Raspbian supports Node-RED, the visual design tool for Node-JS, we see less reason to opt for the RPi-specific, IoT-focused Thingbox.
Snappy Ubuntu Core — Also called Ubuntu Core with Snaps, this embedded version of Ubuntu Core draws upon a Snap package mechanism that Canonical is spinning off as a universal Linux package format, enabling a single binary package to work on “any Linux desktop, server, cloud or device.” Snaps enable Snappy Ubuntu Core to offer transactional rollbacks, secure updates, cloud support, and an app store platform. Snappy requires only a 600MHz CPU and 128MB RAM, but also needs 4GB of flash. It runs on the Pi and other hacker boards, and has appeared on devices including Erle-Copter drones, Dell Edge Gateways, Nextcloud Box, and LimeSDR.
Tizen — Primarily backed by Samsung, the Linux Foundation hosted embedded Linux stack has barely registered in the mobile market. However, it has been widely used in Samsung TVs and smartwatches, including the new Gear S3, and has been sporadically implemented in its cameras and consumer appliances. Tizen can even run on the Raspberry Pi. Samsung has begun to integrate Tizen with its SmartThings smart home system, enabling SmartThings control from Samsung TVs. We can also expect more integration with Samsung’s Artik modules and Artik Cloud. Artik ships with Fedora, but Tizen 3.0 has recently been ported, along with Ubuntu Core.
uClinux — The venerable, stripped-down uClinux is the only form of Linux that can run on MCUs, and only then on specific Cortex-M3, M4, and -M7 models. uClinux requires MCUs with built-in memory controllers that can use an external DRAM chip to meet its RAM requirements. Now merged into the mainline Linux kernel, uClinux benefits from the extensive wireless support found in Linux. However, newer MCU-oriented OSes such as Mbed are closing the gap quickly on wireless, and are easier to configure. EmCraft is one of the biggest boosters for uClinux on MCUs, offering a variety of Cortex-M-based modules with uClinux BSPs.
Yocto Project — The Linux Foundation’s Yocto Project is not a Linux distro, but an open source collaborative project to provide developers with templates, tools, and methods to create custom embedded stacks. Because you can customize stacks with minimal overhead, it’s frequently used for IoT. Yocto Project forms the basis for most commercial embedded Linux distros, and is part of projects such as Ostro Linux and Qt for Device Creation. Qt is prepping a Qt Lite technology for Qt 5.8 that will optimize Device Creation for smaller IoT targets.
Non-Linux Open Source IoT OSes
Apache Mynewt — The open source, wireless savvy Apache Mynewt for 32-bit MCUs was developed by Runtime and hosted by the Apache Software Foundation. The modular Apache Mynewt is touted for its wireless support, precise configurability of concurrent connections, debugging features, and granular power controls. In May, Runtime and Arduino Srl announced that Apache Mynewt would be available for Arduino Srl’s Primo and STAR Otto SBCs. The OS also supports Arduino LLC boards like the Arduino Zero. (Recently, Arduino Srl and Arduino LLC settled their legal differences, announcing plans to reunite under an Arduino Holding company and Arduino Foundation.)
ARM Mbed — ARM’s IoT-oriented OS targets tiny, battery-powered IoT endpoints running on Cortex-M MCUs with as little as 8KB of RAM, and has appeared on the BBC Micro:bit SBC. Although originally semi-proprietary, single threaded only, and lacking deterministic features, it’s now open sourced under Apache 2.0, and provides multithreading and RTOS support. Unlike many lightweight RTOSes, Mbed was designed with wireless communications in mind, and it recently added Thread support. The OS supports cloud services that can securely extract data via an Mbed Device Connector. Earlier this year, the project launched a Wearable Reference Design.
Contiki — With its 10KB RAM and 30KB flash requirements, the open source Contiki can’t get as tiny as Tiny OS or RIOT OS, nor does it offer real-time determinism like RIOT and some others. However, the widely used Contiki provides extensive wireless networking support, with an IPv6 stack contributed by Cisco. The OS supplies a comprehensive list of development tools including a dynamic module loading Cooja Network Simulator for debugging wireless networks. Contiki is touted for efficient memory allocation.
FreeRTOS — FreeRTOS is coming close to rivaling Linux among embedded development platforms, and it’s particularly popular for developing IoT end devices. FreeRTOS lacks Linux features such as device drivers, user accounts, and advanced networking and memory management. However, it has a far smaller footprint than Linux, not to mention mainstream RTOSes like VxWorks, and it offers an open source GPL license. FreeRTOS can run on under a half kilobyte of RAM and 5-10KB of ROM, although more typically when used with a TCP/IP stack, it’s more like 24KB of RAM and 60KB flash.
Fuchsia — Google’s latest open source OS was partially revealed in August, leaving more questions than answers. The fact that Fuchsia has no relation to Linux, but is based on an LK distro designed to compete with MCU-oriented OSes such as FreeRTOS, led many to speculate that it’s an IoT OS. Yet, Fuchsia also supports mobile and laptop computers, so Google may have much broader ambitions for this early-stage project.
NuttX — The non-restrictive BSD licensed NuttX is known primarily for being the most common RTOS for open source drones running on APM/ArduPilot and PX4 UAV platform, which are collectively part of the Dronecode platform. NuttX is widely used in other resource-constrained embedded systems, as well. Although it supports x86 and Cortex-A5 and -A8 platforms, this POSIX- and ANSI-based OS is primarily aimed at Cortex-M MCUs. NuttX is fully pre-emptible, with fixed priority, round-robin, and sporadic scheduling. The OS is billed as “a tiny Linux work-alike with a much reduced feature set.”
RIOT OS — The 8-year old RIOT OS is known for its efficient power usage and widespread wireless support. RIOT offers hardware requirements of 1.5KB RAM and 5KB of flash that are almost as low as Tiny OS. Yet it also offers features like multi-threading, dynamic memory management, hardware abstraction, partial POSIX compliance, and C++ support, which are more typical of Linux than lightweight RTOSes. Other features include a low interrupt latency of roughly 40 clock cycles, and priority-based scheduling. You can develop under Linux or OS X and deploy to embedded devices using a native port.
TinyOS — This mature, open source BSD-licensed OS is about as tiny as you can get, supporting low power consumption on MCU targets “with a few kB of RAM and a few tens of kB of code space.” Written in a C dialect called nesC, the event-driven TinyOS is used by researchers exploring low-power wireless networking, including multi-hop nets. By the project’s own admission, “computationally-intensive applications can be difficult to write.” The project is working on Cortex-M3 support, but for now it’s still designed for lower-end MCUs and radio chips.
Zephyr — The Linux Foundation’s lightweight, security-enabled Zephyr RTOS runs on as little as 2-8KB of RAM. Zephyr works on x86, ARM, and ARC systems, but focuses primarily on MCU-based devices with Bluetooth/BLE and 802.15.4 radios like 6LoWPAN. Zephyr is based on Wind River’s Rocket OS, which is based on Viper, a stripped-down version of VxWorks. Initial targets include the Arduino Due and Intel’s Arduino 101, among others. Zephyr recently appeared on SeeedStudio’s 96Boards IoT Edition BLE Carbon SBC, which is supported by a new Linaro LITE group.
Read the previous articles in the series:
Who Needs the Internet of Things?
21 Open Source Projects for IoT
Linux and Open Source Hardware for IoT
Smart Linux Home Hubs Mix IoT with AI
Learn more about embedded Linux through The Linux Foundation’s Embedded Linux Development with Yocto Project course.
