Developer |
Linux Foundation, Wind River Systems |
---|---|
Written in | C |
OS family | Real-time operating systems |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | 17 February 2016[1] |
Latest release | 3.6.0 / 23 February 2024[2] [3] |
Repository | |
Marketing target | Internet of things, Embedded Systems |
Available in | English |
Platforms | ARM ( Cortex-M, Cortex-R, Cortex-A), ARC, MIPS, Nios II, RISC-V, Xtensa, SPARC, x86, x86-64 |
Kernel type |
Microkernel (pre-v1.6)
[4]
[5]
[6] Monolithic (v1.6+) [5] [6] |
License | Apache 2.0 |
Preceded by | Wind River Rocket |
Official website |
www |
Zephyr ( /ˈzɛf ər/) is a small real-time operating system (RTOS) [7] for connected, resource-constrained and embedded devices (with an emphasis on microcontrollers) supporting multiple architectures and released under the Apache License 2.0. Zephyr includes a kernel, and all components and libraries, device drivers, protocol stacks, file systems, and firmware updates, needed to develop full application software. [8]
It is named after Zephyrus, the ancient Greek god of the west wind. [9]
Zephyr originated from Virtuoso RTOS for digital signal processors (DSPs). [10] [11] In 2001, Wind River Systems acquired Belgian software company Eonic Systems, the developer of Virtuoso. In November 2015, Wind River Systems renamed the operating system to Rocket, made it open-source and royalty-free. [11] Compared to Wind River's other RTOS, VxWorks, Rocket had a much smaller memory needs, especially suitable for sensors and single-function embedded devices. Rocket could fit into as little as 4 KB of memory, while VxWorks needed 200 KB or more. [11]
In February 2016, Rocket became a hosted collaborative project of the Linux Foundation under the name Zephyr. [10] [12] [1] Wind River Systems contributed the Rocket kernel to Zephyr, but still provided Rocket to its clients, charging them for the cloud services. [13] [11] As a result, Rocket became "essentially the commercial version of Zephyr". [13]
Since then, early members and supporters of Zephyr include Intel, NXP Semiconductors, Synopsys, Linaro, [14] Texas Instruments, DeviceTone, Nordic Semiconductor, Oticon, and Bose. [15]
As of January 2022 [update], Zephyr had the largest number of contributors and commits compared to other RTOSes (including Mbed, RT-Thread, NuttX, and RIOT). [16]
Zephyr intends to provide all components needed to develop resource-constrained and embedded or microcontroller-based applications. This includes, but is not limited to: [8]
Zephyr uses Kconfig and devicetree as its configuration systems, inherited from the Linux kernel but implemented in the programming language Python for portability to non- Unix operating systems. [17] The RTOS build system is based on CMake, which allows Zephyr applications to be built on Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. [18]
Zephyr has a general-purpose tool called "west" for managing repositories, downloading programs to hardware, etc.
Early Zephyr kernels used a dual nanokernel plus microkernel design. [4] [5] [6] In December 2016, with Zephyr 1.6, this changed to a monolithic kernel. [5] [6]
The kernel offers several features that distinguish it from other small OSes: [8]
A group is dedicated to maintaining and improving the security. [19] Also, being owned and supported by a community means the world's open source developers are vetting the code, which significantly increases security. [12]
Developer |
Linux Foundation, Wind River Systems |
---|---|
Written in | C |
OS family | Real-time operating systems |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Open source |
Initial release | 17 February 2016[1] |
Latest release | 3.6.0 / 23 February 2024[2] [3] |
Repository | |
Marketing target | Internet of things, Embedded Systems |
Available in | English |
Platforms | ARM ( Cortex-M, Cortex-R, Cortex-A), ARC, MIPS, Nios II, RISC-V, Xtensa, SPARC, x86, x86-64 |
Kernel type |
Microkernel (pre-v1.6)
[4]
[5]
[6] Monolithic (v1.6+) [5] [6] |
License | Apache 2.0 |
Preceded by | Wind River Rocket |
Official website |
www |
Zephyr ( /ˈzɛf ər/) is a small real-time operating system (RTOS) [7] for connected, resource-constrained and embedded devices (with an emphasis on microcontrollers) supporting multiple architectures and released under the Apache License 2.0. Zephyr includes a kernel, and all components and libraries, device drivers, protocol stacks, file systems, and firmware updates, needed to develop full application software. [8]
It is named after Zephyrus, the ancient Greek god of the west wind. [9]
Zephyr originated from Virtuoso RTOS for digital signal processors (DSPs). [10] [11] In 2001, Wind River Systems acquired Belgian software company Eonic Systems, the developer of Virtuoso. In November 2015, Wind River Systems renamed the operating system to Rocket, made it open-source and royalty-free. [11] Compared to Wind River's other RTOS, VxWorks, Rocket had a much smaller memory needs, especially suitable for sensors and single-function embedded devices. Rocket could fit into as little as 4 KB of memory, while VxWorks needed 200 KB or more. [11]
In February 2016, Rocket became a hosted collaborative project of the Linux Foundation under the name Zephyr. [10] [12] [1] Wind River Systems contributed the Rocket kernel to Zephyr, but still provided Rocket to its clients, charging them for the cloud services. [13] [11] As a result, Rocket became "essentially the commercial version of Zephyr". [13]
Since then, early members and supporters of Zephyr include Intel, NXP Semiconductors, Synopsys, Linaro, [14] Texas Instruments, DeviceTone, Nordic Semiconductor, Oticon, and Bose. [15]
As of January 2022 [update], Zephyr had the largest number of contributors and commits compared to other RTOSes (including Mbed, RT-Thread, NuttX, and RIOT). [16]
Zephyr intends to provide all components needed to develop resource-constrained and embedded or microcontroller-based applications. This includes, but is not limited to: [8]
Zephyr uses Kconfig and devicetree as its configuration systems, inherited from the Linux kernel but implemented in the programming language Python for portability to non- Unix operating systems. [17] The RTOS build system is based on CMake, which allows Zephyr applications to be built on Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. [18]
Zephyr has a general-purpose tool called "west" for managing repositories, downloading programs to hardware, etc.
Early Zephyr kernels used a dual nanokernel plus microkernel design. [4] [5] [6] In December 2016, with Zephyr 1.6, this changed to a monolithic kernel. [5] [6]
The kernel offers several features that distinguish it from other small OSes: [8]
A group is dedicated to maintaining and improving the security. [19] Also, being owned and supported by a community means the world's open source developers are vetting the code, which significantly increases security. [12]