Zephyr RTOS Project Launches Version 2.0.0, Adds New Boards, Gains a Member
Zephyr 2.0.0 boasts a new Bluetooth controller, Arm Cortex-R support, and a large-scale over-the-air (OTA) update system.
Real-time operating system (RTOS) effort the Zephyr Project has announced the launch of Zephyr 2.0.0, the launch of new Zephyr-based development boards, and a new member: Eclipse IoT.
Designed for use on resource-constrained platforms and offering compatibility with multiple architectures, the Zephyr RTOS was unveiled by project host the Linux Foundation in 2016. Since its unveiling, the platform has grown impressively quickly: Today, it supports over 160 development board configurations across 10 architectures, with more than 500 active contributors to its source code.
"We are excited about the growth of the Zephyr ecosystem," says the Linux Foundation's Kate Stewart. "It's a vibrant and diverse community driven to create an open source RTOS that fuels adoption and innovation. Their dedication has made a huge impact in the market and we're now seeing many more boards planned for shipping with Zephyr and more products based on Zephyr."
Two boards offering Zephyr support highlighted by the project are the recently-launched Nordic Semiconductor Thingy91 and Actinius Icarus, both targeting projects requiring GPS and cellular data connectivity - including LTE-M and NB-IoT.
Bigger news comes in the release of Zephyr 2.0.0, with a push from project contributors seeing over 900 commits in the last month of development to add functionality including improve 64-bit compatibility, initial support for the Arm Cortex-R architecture, SOCKS5 proxy support, point-to-point protocol (PPP) connectivity capabilities, 6LoCAN support, boosted bandwidth for Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) mesh networking projects, and an end-to-end large-scale over-the-air (OTA) updating system dubbed UpdateHub. At the same time, the project published the first point release for its long-term support (LTS) branch, Zephyr 1.14.1.
"The delivery of these two releases demonstrates the level of commitment from the Zephyr Project and its members to support a stable LTS base, as well as introduce new features and enhancements intended to make IoT development easier," says Maureen Helm, NXP senior software engineer and Technical Steering Committee Chair at the Zephyr Project. "These releases further solidify Zephyr OS as a leader in open source embedded development."
Finally, the Zephyr Project has announced that Eclipse IoT, the Internet of Things arm of the Eclipse Foundation, has joined as a full member, while long-term member Oticon — responsible for a range of connected hearing aids — has upgraded its own membership to platinum status.
Full details on Zephyr 2.0.0 can be found on the project blog.