What do you know about the Internet of things open source operating system?

The Internet of things, open source and operating system are the most popular words in the IT industry, and these three words make up the IoT open source operating system. So, how much do you know about the IoT open source operating system?

We are taking you to the IoT operating system today, along with 10 classic IoT operating systems.

Speaking from the Internet of Things

Internet of things, things, abbreviation: IoT, is an extension of the concept of the Internet, the broad sense refers to a variety of physical objects between the Internet, simply said, is "the Internet of things."

"Things" can be a variety of devices in the internet of things, such as implants that monitor heart function, biological chips that monitor farm animals, cars with sensors, DNA analysis equipment for monitoring food environments, field operating equipment for firefighting and search and rescue, and so on.

IoT technologies, including smart grids, smart homes, intelligent transportation, smart cities, and more, are a wider network, with the ultimate goal of interconnection between networks in the grid, home, transportation and other areas, while providing security, data analysis and management.

What is the operating system?

Operating system, English name operating system, abbreviation: OS, is a system software, located in the middle of the computer hardware and applications, the management of hardware and software resources, for computer programs to provide related services. All computer programs, including applications or firmware, require operating system support.

In general, operating systems typically have the following functions: Process management, interrupts, memory management, file systems, device drivers, networking, security, input and output systems.

Typical operating systems include Windows operating systems (Microsoft), Unix and Unix-like operating systems (Linux, Google), Mac operating systems (Apple).

The Windows operating system based on MS-DOS is designed on a graphical operating system that is a closed source, i.e. the source code is not open.

Unix-and-Unix-like operating systems, such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Minix, Linux, QNX, Google's Android operating system (Linux-based), Ubuntu, are basically open source systems, and the code is opened.

Another is Apple's Mac OS X and IOS mobile device operating system, based on Darwin, Darwin is a UNIX-like operating system, Apple's operating system (MAC OS X and IOS) is closed source, but Apple in 2000 to open up Darwin.

What is an open source operating system?

Open source operating system (open source operating system) refers to the operating system software exposed by the source code, which is used, compiled, and republished in accordance with the open source protocol. Under the premise of complying with the relevant open source agreement, anyone can use it freely and control how the software runs. Open source and free customization are the most important features of open-source operating systems. Here are some advantages of the open source operating system:

Easy to understand: The source code of open source operating system is exposed, it is easier for developers to see and understand the code to get relevant knowledge.

Public transparency: Operating system vulnerabilities and flaws are more exposed, while code development and maintenance is also public.

Customizable: Users can customize according to the needs of different hardware platforms and application scenarios.

Low cost: No commercial royalties, saving the related development management and human input costs.

Sustainable: Even if a previously developed company is unable to support for a variety of reasons, it relies on the participation of a wide range of developers in the open source community, and the system can continue to be maintained.

Brainstorming: Because open-source operating systems are open, more developers can be involved in the development, concentrating more wisdom and ideas.

Why does the Internet of things need open source operating systems?

For the IoT development, fragmentation is a major problem, with chips, sensors, communication protocols, and application scenarios that are very diverse, with "hills lined up". such as wireless communication standards, there are Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, PLC, Z-wave, RF, Thread, Z-wave, NFC, UWB, LiFi, NB-IoT, Lora and so on. Obviously, the technical solution is not unified, the system structure is inconsistent, hindered the development of the Internet of things, also limited the scope of interconnection.

However, various operating systems can support different hardware, communication standards, and application scenarios. Open source helps to break down technical barriers and barriers, improve interoperability and portability, reduce development costs, and be suitable for developers in open source communities.

Operating system is a key link in the Internet of things, and open source is a great boost to the opening and development of the Internet of things. At present, the application of open source operating system in the Internet of things is very extensive, and it will play an increasingly important role in the Internet of things.

Top Ten IoT open source operating systems

The mobile phone market presents Android and iOS two, while in the IoT system, the operating system also presents a variety of features, not one or two operating systems that can support all IoT devices.

So, today we want to highlight the top ten IoT open source operating systems. (Microsoft's Windows for IoT and Apple's IOS, though very powerful, are not listed in this article because of the closed source.) )

1.Andorid Things

Andorid things, the internet of things Google launched last week, is an updated version of the "Brillo" operating system introduced last year, as a branch version of the Andorid system, similar to the andoridwear for wearable and smart watches ( In fact, it is also an internet of things operating system.

It uses a communication protocol called Weave, which enables devices to connect to the cloud and interact with services such as Google's assistants. Android Things is intended for all Java developers, regardless of developer experience with mobile development.

The operating system will be able to support a range of computing platforms for IoT devices, including the Intel Edison platform, NXP's Pico platform, and the BlackBerry Pi 3.

2.Contiki

Contiki is an open-source, easy-to-migrate multitasking operating system for memory-constrained network tasks. The author of the Contiki Project is Dr. Adam Dunkels of the network Embedded Systems Group of the Swedish Computer Science Institute.

The system requires only thousands of bytes or hundreds of bytes of memory to provide multi-tasking operating system environments and TCP/IP support. It has been ported and successfully run on the embedded microcontroller platform (TI Msp430,atmel AVR) as well as the computer, game consoles and other platforms. It supports protocols with full-standard IPV6 and IPV4, as well as low-power network standards: 6lowpan, RPL, CoAP.

3.eLinux

Elinux, also known as Embedded Linux, embedded Linux operating system, the operating system based on the Linux kernel, Linux for the embedded system of the cutting version, supporting the operating system of the manufacturers, chips and products are more extensive. The operating system's Wiki page provides a range of information about development, hardware, products, manufacturers, communities, and more.

4.FreeRTOS

FreeRTOS is a mini real-time operating system kernel, features include: task management, time management, signal volume, message queue, memory management, recording functions, software timers, and so on, can basically meet the needs of smaller systems.

FreeRTOS operating system is fully open source your operating system, with the source of open, portable, can be cut, scheduling strategy flexible features. Currently, the operating system has been deployed on millions of devices, claiming to be "the market's leading embedded real-time operating system", which provides a good solution for microcontrollers and microprocessors.

5.mbed OS

Developed by ARM, this operating system is specifically designed for IoT devices running ARM processors. It contains a C + + application network, and the company also provides other development tools and related device servers.

By default, the mbed operating system is an event-driven, single-threaded architecture, not a multithreaded (real-time operating system) environment. This ensures that it can be scaled to the smallest, lowest-cost and lowest-power IoT devices.

ARM has a strong market share in mobile devices, so the power and outlook of this operating system can not be underestimated.

6.Raspbian

Raspbian is a Debian-based operating system designed for Raspberry Pi hardware. This operating system includes a number of columns of basic programs and tools to ensure the operation of the Raspberry Pi hardware.

7.RIOT

RIOT, known as the "friendly IoT operating system", is committed to developer-friendly, resource-friendly, IoT-friendly, key features such as C + + support, multithreading, energy efficiency, partial compliance with POSIX, and more. The RIOT open source community has been launched since 2008. Riot can run on many platforms including embedded devices, PCs, sensors, and more.

8.Ubuntu Core

Ubuntu is currently the most popular version of Linux, and Ubuntu Core is designed to bring Ubuntu to the IoT world. It can run such as Microsoft Azure, Google Compute engine, Amazon Elastic cloud service, or it can run on hardware such as Beaglebone Black and Raspberry Pi.

9.Huawei LiteOS

Huawei LiteOS is a "unified IoT operating system and middleware software platform" built for the IoT sector, with lightweight (core less than 10k), low power, connectivity, security and other key capabilities. Huawei LiteOS is now mainly used in smart home, wearable, car networking, smart meter reading, industrial Internet and other IoT areas of intelligent hardware, but also with the LiteOS ecosystem of hardware interconnection, improve the user experience.

Liteos operating system has the lowest energy consumption, small size, fast response and other characteristics, also established open source community, can support the chip such as HiSilicon PLC chip HCT3911, media chip 3798m/c, Ipcamera chip hi3516a, as well as lte-m chip and so on.

10.Tizen

The Tizen,linux Foundation and the Limo Foundation, jointly developed by Intel and Samsung Electronics, are open source operating systems that address the needs of IoT device ecosystems (including equipment manufacturers, mobile phone operators, application developers, independent software service providers) for mobile phones, TVs, Wear a variety of products.

Tizen underlying platform-related APIs are available in the form of HTML5, which will cover communications, multimedia, cameras, networks, community media, and more. Samsung has sold several products that carry the operating system, and is its biggest supporter.

Source: China Cloud Computing

What do you know about the Internet of things open source operating system?