With 34 billion devices set to gain an IP address over the next five years (up from 10 billion today), 2015 has seen a surge in the number of IoT operating systems (OS) to help create, link and manage ‘things’.
CBR lists five of the main OSs currently available in the market.
1. Google Brillo
From Nest’s smart home portfolio to smart cars, Google is keen on building an IoT world of its own. Back in June, the firm launched the Brillo OS for the IoT designed to help developers and manufacturers build connected devices.
The product also offers developers a common language for locating devices on a network by including Weave’s communication protocol.
The OS was developed in collaboration with Nest, a set of developer APIs, a core set of schemas and a certification programme to ensure device and app interoperability.
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2. Windows 10 IoT OS
Following the recent Windowns 10 launch, Microsoft has also created an IoT version of the OS. The Windows 10 IoT Core solution for Raspberry Pi 2.
The software was designed to help consumers and businesses create applications for embedded smart devices that may or may not have screens.
End-user experiences built with the OS include responsive air hockey tables and doors unlocked by facial recognition.
3. ARM mbed OS
ARM is also investing in the IoT with its own OS. The ARM mbed OS is an open source embedded OS designed for ‘things’ spanning from wearables to smart homes and cities.
The product provides standards based communication capabilities, and drivers for sensors, I/O devices and connectivity. The mbed OS has also been built as a modular, configurable software stack to give users the opportunity to customise it to the device they are developing, and reduce memory requirements by excluding unnecessary software components.
The scalable OS is by default a single-threaded, event driven architecture, rather than a multi-threaded (real time OS) environment.
4. Huawei LiteOS
LiteOS is a lightweight, open source, Linux-based IoT OS. The company claims the product to be three times smaller in size and consumes four times less power when compared to other IoT OSs with a microsecond response speed 20% faster.
The software is an open source system that provides a unified development platform. Huawei partners can obtain codes from the open source community to build their own IoT products.
The LiteOS is part of a bigger platform – Agile- launched by Huawei last May. The SDN-based IoT platform was created to enable device makers to create new products and bridge connectivity between the ‘thing’ and the network.
5. Intel RealSense OS X
Intel has tapped into the IoT OS space with RealSense technology, in addition to its chips which are been used in millions of devices worldwide.
The RealSense OS X has been designed for developers to create new depth-sensing hardware and software within the IoT spectrum.
The company launched the software in August in a push for its RealSense technology solutions – a system of cameras, software and sensors that can enhance the capability of a laptop by adding new functions like voice recognition, and 3D scanning.
