Amazon FreeRTOS – IoT operating system for microcontrollers

14th July 2019 Harshvardhan Mishra

Amazon FreeRTOS (a:FreeRTOS) is an open source operating system for microcontrollers that makes small, low-power edge devices easy to program, deploy, secure, connect, and manage. Amazon FreeRTOS extends the FreeRTOS kernel, a popular open source operating system for microcontrollers, with software libraries that make it easy to securely connect your small, low-power devices to AWS cloud services like AWS IoT Core or to more powerful edge devices running AWS IoT Greengrass.

A microcontroller (MCU) is a single chip containing a simple processor that can be found in many devices, including appliances, sensors, fitness trackers, industrial automation, and automobiles. Many of these small devices could benefit from connecting to the cloud or locally to other devices. For example, smart electricity meters need to connect to the cloud to report on usage, and building security systems need to communicate locally so that a door will unlock when you badge in. Microcontrollers have limited compute power and memory capacity and typically perform simple, functional tasks. Microcontrollers frequently run operating systems that do not have built-in functionality to connect to local networks or the cloud, making IoT applications a challenge. Amazon FreeRTOS helps solve this problem by providing both the core operating system (to run the edge device) as well as software libraries that make it easy to securely connect to the cloud (or other edge devices) so you can collect data from them for IoT applications and take action.

How To Use

To get started, you can select a device from the AWS Partner Device Catalog. Then, you can use the Amazon FreeRTOS console to download Amazon FreeRTOS for your device or download from GitHub. Amazon FreeRTOS is open source and there is no charge to use it. Visit our getting started page to learn more about Amazon FreeRTOS.

Benefits

Extends the FreeRTOS kernel

Amazon FreeRTOS is open source and it extends the FreeRTOS kernel, the most popular real-time operating system for microcontrollers. With Amazon FreeRTOS, you can take advantage of the large ecosystem of existing tools developed for the FreeRTOS kernel. If you are already using the FreeRTOS kernel on your existing devices, you can choose to use Amazon FreeRTOS and take advantage of the functionality provided by the additional libraries, or continue to use just the kernel operating system.

Easily program, deploy, and manage low-power connected devices

Amazon FreeRTOS includes software libraries that make it easy to program commonly needed IoT capabilities into your device, including libraries that help configure devices to a local network using common connectivity options like Wi-Fi or Ethernet, or connect to a mobile device using Bluetooth Low Energy. Amazon FreeRTOS also includes an over-the-air (OTA) update feature to remotely update devices with feature enhancements or security patches.

Secure data and device connections

Amazon FreeRTOS comes with libraries to help secure device data and connections, including support for data encryption and key management. Amazon FreeRTOS includes support for Transport Layer Security (TLS v1.2) to help your devices connect securely to the cloud. Amazon FreeRTOS also has a code signing feature to ensure your device code is not compromised during deployment and OTA updates.

Connect to the cloud or to a local edge device

Amazon FreeRTOS devices can connect directly to cloud services like AWS IoT Core, to a local edge device like an AWS IoT Greengrass device, or to a mobile device via Bluetooth Low Energy. By connecting Amazon FreeRTOS devices to an IoT Greengrass Core device, you can continue to communicate with the device even if it loses connection to the cloud.

Broad hardware and technology ecosystem

Amazon FreeRTOS gives you the flexibility to easily build IoT solutions on a variety of chipsets and supports a variety of architectures. The AWS Partner Device Catalog lists IoT devices that work with AWS IoT. For new devices, you can choose and purchase from a variety of qualified chipsets from the AWS Partner Device Catalog, a curated catalog of AWS enabled hardware from our trusted APN partners.

Integrated high quality tools

AWS IoT Device Tester for Amazon FreeRTOS is a test automation tool for microcontrollers. With AWS IoT Device Tester, you can easily perform testing to determine if your device will run Amazon FreeRTOS and interoperate with AWS IoT services. Learn more about the AWS IoT Device Tester and download the tool.

How it works

Amazon FreeRTOS provides everything you need to easily program connected microcontroller-based devices and collect data from them for IoT applications. You can get started by choosing an Amazon FreeRTOS-qualified microcontroller from the AWS Partner Device Catalog. Then, you can use the Amazon FreeRTOS console or GitHub to select the relevant software libraries for your devices and download the complete Amazon FreeRTOS operating system, including the device and application specific libraries. Visit our getting started page to learn more about all the options.

Once Amazon FreeRTOS is deployed to your devices, you can securely connect them to cloud services like AWS IoT Core, to a local edge device, or to a mobile device via Bluetooth Low Energy, and update them remotely using the OTA update feature.

Source – https://aws.amazon.com

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