Linux and the Internet of Things

Internet of things: all things or almost all things connected to the internet for the benefit of people, that's what they say or is the promise; Linux as an open operating system is a platform for the development of this promise to become a viable reality, there are already Linux distributions that are oriented to the support and development of the internet of things, before talking about them, let's see the 3 keys main internet of things:

1. Processors are needed under two premises: small and low consumption, the evolution of processors for smartphones have been a great base in this regard, AMR with its Cortex-A / R / M series and Intel with its recent Quark series has processors Soc (Integrated Systems on a Single Chip) that meet these requirements.
2. Sensors are the devices that allow the processor to "know" the environment: GPS location, temperature, altitude, ambient light, accelerometers, barometric pressure, etc ...
3. Low consumption communication, traditionally communication can be carried out via ethernet, wifi or 4g communication, but the objective is that it consumes little energy and reaches more widespread places, therefore bluetooth 4.0, nfc and emerging technologies such as ZIgBee, Z-Wave, 6LoWPAN among others

Among the Linux distributions oriented to the IoT (Internet of Things):

• RIOT: Linux-based, runs on 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit platforms, programming in c and c ++ language, energy efficiency, TCP / IP support, 6LoWPAN.
• IOTTLY: based on GNU / LInux compatible for now with Udoo, Arduino and Raspberry, it is a project in its first steps
• Ubuntu core: it is Canonical's bet for the internet of things, a reduced version of ubuntu oriented to the cloud service and the customization of embedded devices with the support of the manufacturers.

Other operating systems based on open software

• contiki- Open source operating system geared towards small devices and the internet of things, extremely small around 30k with full TCP / IP network support and multitasking
• Bright: Google's commitment to the internet of things, android-based and development-oriented was announced by Google in IO / 2015

@ errod1