Zephyr Project <taldrich@...>
Welcome to the Zephyr Project Quarterly Newsletter
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Welcome to the Zephyr Project Newsletter! As the Zephyr community continues to expand and innovate we've added this quarterly update to the growing list of resources and tools available to our ecosystem to stay connected. In this first edition we are excited to bring you updates on what's in store for Zephyr OS in 2019, provide a glimpse into some of the work currently underway in the community and share ways you can get involved in the Zephyr Project.
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A Look Ahead to 2019: Zephyr Project Update
As a vendor neutral open source project we embrace transparency and responsiveness to the needs of the community. Based on feedback from our contributor community, Technical Steering Committee (TSC) and the Governing Board, the Zephyr Project has a number of exciting technical initiatives, announcements and events planned for 2019. All of which are based on our mission to build a best in breed real-time operating system (RTOS) for resource constrained environments built with functional safety and security in mind. This year watch for:
- Zephyr OS 1.14 with Long-Term Support (LTS)
- Functional Safety Certifications
- Products Powered by Zephyr OS
For more information about the Zephyr Project's 2019 plans see Governing Board Chair Amy Occhialino's (Intel) blog post discussing her goals for the project in 2019.
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To hear more from TSC Chairperson Anas Nashif (Intel) about the plans for Zephyr OS in 2019 and the focus on functional safety please view his presentation from OpenIoT Summit EU 2018.
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Zephyr Project at Embedded World 2019
The Zephyr Project is exhibiting at Embedded World 2019! Be sure to visit the Zephyr Project booth in Hall 4: Stand no. 4-170 to see technical demonstrations, learn about the latest products powered by Zephyr and meet the community behind the technology. Please see the Zephyr Blog for full information on the Zephyr presence at the show.
For the full list of events where the Zephyr Community will be present, please see our Events Page. To get your event listed on our website please contact the Zephyr Project. |
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Zephyr 1.14 with LTS is Coming Soon
The Zephyr Project is currently working towards its first long-term support (LTS) release of Zephyr OS in April 2019. Zephyr OS 1.14 will be supported for 2 years and is intended to give product makers and developers new features and functionality with added stability and regression risk reduction. To view the progress of Zephyr OS 1.14 visit our GitHub page.
If you would like to contribute to Zephyr OS 1.14 please consider fixing bugs, adding documentation or signing up to help maintain the subsystems, API's and drivers that matter to you by joining the TSC's weekly open calls.
Following this release the Zephyr Project will return to its traditional 12 week release cadence.
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Products Powered by Zephyr OS
Each week, new products powered by Zephyr OS are entering the market and providing unique and innovative examples of how this open source RTOS is making an impact. Product makers are increasingly choosing Zephyr OS because of the benefits it provides. Take a look at just a few examples of recent product launches using Zephyr OS. To get your Zephyr OS powered product or company listed please contact the Zephyr Project Marketing Team.
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Adero
Adero is a system of Bluetooth-enabled tags that communicate with one another and you. The system comes together in the Adero app where you can build your smart bags, track your tagged things, and create reminders to keep them all together. Read more here.
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Papyr by Electronut Labs
Powered by the Zephyr OS and Nordic’s nRF52840 SoC, Papyr is an ultra low power connected epaper display. It supports both Bluetooth LE (BLE5, BLE Mesh) and 802.15.4 (Thread, Zigbee) connectivity, and can be controlled via a mobile app. Read More about Papyr here
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Mark 2 by ProGlove
This 'smart wearable' addresses critical barcode scanning problems and ensures greater efficiency, ergonomics, quality and process reliability. MARK 2 is designed for use in production, logistics and retail. Read more here.
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Zephyr Project includes a fully-qualified and production-ready Bluetooth LE stack
Thanks to leadership from Zephyr Project Platinum Member Nordic Semiconductor and Adero, the Zephyr Project now includes the world’s first open-source, fully-qualified, and production-ready Bluetooth LE stack. Nordic's qualification of the Bluetooth LE stack in Zephyr enables end-product makers to launch Bluetooth products using the native Bluetooth LE support in the Zephyr RTOS. While Zephyr is not the only RTOS to include an open source Bluetooth LE Host or Link Layer, the Zephyr Bluetooth LE stack is the only one with all required components qualified and available as open source. A complete, qualified Bluetooth LE stack (consisting of a Host, Link Layer, and Physical layer) is needed to list an end product using Bluetooth technology. (Refer to the Zephyr Host QDID: 119517 and Link Layer QDID: 101395.)
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Zephyr Project now supports over 150 boards!
View supported boards here. To add your board to the list please review the porting guide and contribution guide for more details.
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Zephyr Community Spotlight: Maureen Helm
The depth of technical expertise and dedication of the community is one of the many areas where Zephyr Project shines. In each newsletter Zephyr Project will showcase members of our TSC to highlight their contributions to the ecosystem and share their thoughts on key initiatives underway in the community. This edition we are proud to spotlight Maureen Helm, MCU Software Architect at NXP Semiconductors and Zephyr Project Maintainer,
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Maureen Helm (NXP) discussing vendor HALs in Zephyr OS at Embedded Linux Conference Europe.
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Describe your role in the Zephyr Project and how you became involved?
I represent NXP in the TSC and maintain several areas of the tree, including the Arm architecture, sensor subsystem, and NXP SoCs, boards, and drivers. I got involved in the Zephyr Project early on when NXP (Freescale, at the time) was evaluating whether to join as a founding member. Although this was my first foray into collaborative open source, I was quickly sold, having personally experienced the pain of developing and maintaining an in-house proprietary RTOS.
Looking forward, what features or functionality are you the most excited about seeing/working on in Zephyr OS in 2019?
I’m looking forward to the continued expansion of connectivity features such as BLE and Zigbee, new security features with the introduction of Arm v8m devices, and richer development tools enabled by the new “west” meta-tool.
As a maintainer, what does your day to day participation in the project look like?
I aim to review pull requests in the morning, 1) to make sure it gets done every day, and 2) to take advantage of when the European community is still online. I then try to reserve the afternoon for development work and bug fixing. Meetings and other interruptions inevitably get in the way, but as a general rule it helps me to keep pull requests moving and still make time for writing code.
What are some of the most important qualities for a successful maintainer?
It’s important to give specific, actionable feedback, ask questions, and explain why you’re requesting changes. If you can’t articulate why you don’t like something and how it should be changed, then reconsider your feedback. This is, in a way, similar to writing good commit messages, because if you can’t articulate why you’re changing something, then maybe you shouldn’t be changing it.
What advice do you have for Zephyr Project contributors who may be considering becoming a maintainer?
Start joining the weekly TSC meeting, interact with the community on Slack/IRC and the mailing list, and start reviewing code. You don’t need to be a maintainer or employed by a member company to participate!
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I’m thrilled to see how far the Zephyr Project has come since it launched three years ago. We started with just four boards and a handful of contributors, and have grown to over 150 boards, 439 contributors, and 1000 forks! Thank you!
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Get Involved
Zephyr Project is a diverse and inclusive community dedicated to building a vendor neutral ecosystem around Zephyr OS. We welcome contributions of all types as we build a truly open source RTOS to meet the needs of developers and users inventing, building and connecting the Internet of Things. Join us.
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