Zephyr (operating

system)

Zephyr (/ˈzɛf ər/) is a small real-time

operating system (RTOS)[6] 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.[7]
 Zephyr
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 3.3.0 / 19 February

2023[2]

Repository github.com
/zephyrproject-rtos
/zephyr (https://githu
 b.com/zephyrproject-r
Marketing target Internet of things
tos/zephyr)
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)[3][4][5]

Monolithic (v1.6+)[4][5]

License Apache 2.0

Preceded by Wind River Rocket

Official website www.zephyrproject

.org (https://www.zep
hyrproject.org)
History
Zephyr originated from Virtuoso RTOS for
digital signal processors (DSPs).[8][9] 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.[9] 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.[9]
In February 2016, Rocket became a hosted
collaborative project of the Linux
Foundation under the name Zephyr.[8][10][1]
Wind River Systems contributed the
Rocket kernel to Zephyr, but still provided
Rocket to its clients, charging them for the
cloud services.[11][9] As a result, Rocket
became "essentially the commercial
version of Zephyr".[11]

Since then, early members and supporters

of Zephyr include Intel, NXP
Semiconductors, Synopsys, Linaro,[12]
Texas Instruments, DeviceTone, Nordic
Semiconductor, Oticon, and Bose.[13]
As of January 2022, Zephyr had the largest
number of contributors and commits
compared to other RTOSes (including
Mbed, RT-Thread, NuttX, and RIOT).[14]

Features
Zephyr intends to provide all components
needed to develop resource-constrained
and embedded or microcontroller-based
applications. This includes, but is not
limited to:[7]

A small kernel
A flexible configuration and build system
for compile-time definition of required
 resources and modules
A set of protocol stacks (IPv4 and IPv6,
Constrained Application Protocol
(CoAP), LwM2M, MQTT, 802.15.4,
Thread, Bluetooth Low Energy, CAN)
A virtual file system interface with
several flash file systems for non-
volatile storage (FatFs, LittleFS, NVS)
Management and device firmware
update mechanisms

Configuration and build system

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.[15] The RTOS build system is
based on CMake, which allows Zephyr
applications to be built on Linux, macOS,
and Microsoft Windows.[16]

Kernel

Early Zephyr kernels used a dual

nanokernel plus microkernel design.[3][4][5]
In December 2016, with Zephyr 1.6, this
changed to a monolithic kernel.[4][5]

The kernel offers several features that

distinguish it from other small OSes:[7]
 Single address space
Multiple scheduling algorithms
Highly configurable and modular for
flexibility, with resources defined at
compile-time
Memory protection unit (MPU) based
protection
Asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP,
based on OpenAMP) and symmetric
multiprocessing (SMP) support

Security

A group is dedicated to maintaining and

improving the security.[17] Also, being
owned and supported by a community
means the world's open source developers
are vetting the code, which significantly
increases security.[10]

See also
Embedded operating system

References
1. "The Linux Foundation Announces Project
to Build Real-Time Operating System for
Internet of Things Devices" (https://web.arc
hive.org/web/20160310073146/https://ww
w.zephyrproject.org/news/linux-foundation-
announces-project-build-real-time-operating
-system-internet-things-devices) . Zephyr
Project. Linux Foundation. 17 February
 2016. Archived from the original (https://w
ww.zephyrproject.org/news/linux-foundatio
n-announces-project-build-real-time-operati
ng-system-internet-things-devices) on
2016-03-10.
2. "Zephyr v3.3.0" (https://github.com/zephyrp
roject-rtos/zephyr/releases/tag/zephyr-v3.
3.0) . GitHub.
3. Wasserman, Shawn (February 22, 2016).
"How Linux's IoT Zephyr Operating System
Works" (https://mobile.engineering.com/a
mp/11530.html) . Engineering.com.
4. Helm, Maureen (December 15, 2016).
"Announcing Zephyr OS v1.6.0" (https://ww
w.zephyrproject.org/announcing-zephyr-os-
v1-6-0/) . Zephyr Project.
5. Wong, William G. (July 6, 2017). "Zephyr: A
Wearable Operating System" (https://www.e
lectronicdesign.com/technologies/embedd
ed-revolution/article/21805266/zephyr-a-w
earable-operating-system) . Electronic
Design.
6. "Meet Linux's little brother: Zephyr, a tiny
open-source IoT RTOS" (http://linuxgizmos.
com/zephyr-a-tiny-open-source-iot-rtos/) .
LinuxGizmos.com. 2016-02-17. Retrieved
2018-02-23.
7. "Zephyr Project documentation:
Introduction" (https://docs.zephyrproject.or
g/latest/introduction/) .
 8. Clarysse, Ivo (November 22, 2019). "Zephyr
– An Operating System for IoT" (https://ww
w.zephyrproject.org/zephyr-an-operating-sy
stem-for-iot/) . Zephyr Project.
9. Turley, Jim (25 November 2015). "Wind
River Sets Rocket RTOS on Free Trajectory"
(http://www.eejournal.com/archives/article
s/20151125-windriver/) . Electronic
Engineering Journal. Techfocus Media.
Retrieved 2018-02-23.
10. Guerrini, Federico (2016-02-19). "The
Internet of Things Goes Open Source with
Linux Foundation's Zephyr Project" (https://
www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/20
16/02/19/the-internet-of-things-goes-open-
source-with-linux-foundations-zephyr-proje
ct/) . Forbes. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
11. Patel, Niheer (17 February 2016). "Wind
River Welcomes Linux Foundation's Zephyr
Project" (http://blogs.windriver.com/wind_ri
ver_blog/2016/02/wind-river-welcomes-linu
x-foundations-zephyr-project.html) . Wind
River Systems.
12. Osborne, Charlie (2016-02-19). "The Linux
Foundation's Zephyr Project: A custom
operating system for IoT devices" (https://
www.zdnet.com/article/the-linux-foundatio
ns-zephyr-project-building-an-operating-syst
em-for-iot-devices/) . ZDNet. CBS
Interactive. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
13. "Zephyr Project Members" (https://www.zep
hyrproject.org/#members) .
14. "Zephyr GitHub page" (https://github.com/z
ephyrproject-rtos/zephyr) . GitHub. January
26, 2022.
15. "scripts/ folder" (https://github.com/zephyr
project-rtos/zephyr/tree/master/scripts) .
GitHub. 12 May 2020.
16. "Application Development: Zephyr Project
Documentation" (https://docs.zephyrprojec
t.org/latest/application/) . Zephyr Project.
17. Wallen, Jack (2016-02-18). "Linux
Foundation announces Zephyr Project, an
open source IoT operating system" (https://
www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-founda
tion-announces-zephyr-project-an-open-sou
rce-iot-operating-system/) . TechRepublic.
CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
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