Research in Internet of Things' Operating Systems

7/25/2019 Research in Internet of Things' Operating Systems

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GEN600 Final Technical Report:

Research in Internet of Things'

Operating Systems (IoT OS's

Salahuddin M. ElKazak

Cairo University, Masters in Computer Engineering


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Research in IoT OS's 2

Abstract

ith the recent e!traordinary scienti"ic discoveries and technological advances computers have

become ubi#uitous and the vision o" $nternet o" %hings &$o%' is coming to reality( )hile *perating

Systems &*S+s' may be considered a relatively old "ield o" research, its uni#ue role in the $o% and

the crucial reliance on it being critically e""icient in various )ays "or various types o" %hings re

ignites its "ield o" research once more. %his report "irst introduces the t)o terminologies $o% and *S

e!plaining )hat they are and de"ining their relationship to one another. %hen, the report continues to

e!plore the "ield o" $o% *S+s and current research as a "orm o" survey report. -inally, the report

proves that the "ield o" $o% has reignited the "ield o" *S research and that current $o% *S+s are still

in need o" valuable research to en"orce the "ield o" $o% and let it thrive into "ruition.

Keywords $o%, $nternet o" %hings, *S, *perating Systems, -ield o" /esearch, Survey on

$o% *S

GEN600: Final Technical Report


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Table of Contents

1.Introdction.......................................................................................................................................!

2.O"#ecti$es..........................................................................................................................................63.%hat is IoT........................................................................................................................................&3.1.IoT as a ne area o( research.....................................................................................................)

3.2.IoT's i*portance in the (tre....................................................................................................)

+.%hat are Operatin, S-ste*s...........................................................................................................10+.1.OS's as an old on,oin, technolo,-..........................................................................................11

+.2.OS's i*pact de to IoT............................................................................................................12+.3.o*parison "eteen IoT OS's and nonIoT OS's.....................................................................13

+.+./i((erin, oncepts...................................................................................................................1+

+.!.Need (or a special OS..............................................................................................................1!!.Sr$e- on IoT OS's..........................................................................................................................16

!.1.o*parison o( IoT OS's..........................................................................................................1)!.2.ost sed IoT OS's..................................................................................................................1

!.3.Specialied sa,e o( IoT OS's.................................................................................................20

6.IoT OS as an area o( research..........................................................................................................21&.onclsion.......................................................................................................................................22

).Ftre %or.....................................................................................................................................23



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Research in IoT OS's +

List of TablesTa"le !.1: IoT OS o*parisons 4Se$eral ited Resorces5...............................................................1)

List of Figures

Fi,re 3.1: 7illion /ollar Sales 4icri*8 201!5......................................................................

Fi,re 3.2: 7illion nit Ship*ents 4icri*8 201!5.................................................................Fi,re +.3: I*pact o( application and hardare trends on OSs8 hat9s "roen in crrent OS desi,n8

and the OS otloo. 4ilo#ii;8 /.8 Ti*oth-8 R.8 20165.....................................................................12

Fi,re +.+: T-pical co*ponents o( an OS (or lo


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Research in IoT OS's !

$% Intro#&ction

ith the recent e!traordinary scienti"ic discoveries and technological advances computers have

become ubi#uitous and the vision o" $nternet o" %hings &$o%' is coming to reality( )hile *perating

Systems &*S+s' may be considered a relatively old "ield o" research, its uni#ue role in the $o% and

the crucial reliance on it being critically e""icient in various )ays "or various types o" %hings re

ignites its "ield o" research once more.

%he applications and usage o" $o% and the need "or its specialized *S+s along )ith the slo) reaction

o" researchers is an alarm "or the urgency o" more research in this area. $o% developers3researchers

are still rare, many cannot even de"ine the )ord correctly. *S developers3researchers are also rare

and that is due to the "act that it is a highly specialized "ield )ith a very slo) curve and tolerance

"or change.

%his report "irst introduces the t)o terminologies $o% and *S, in the "irst and second sections,

e!plaining )hat they are and de"ining their relationship to one another. %hen in the third section, the

report continues to e!plore the "ield o" $o% *S+s and current research as a "orm o" survey report.

-inally in the last sections, the report proves that the "ield o" $o% has reignited the "ield o" *S

research and that current $o% *S+s are still in need o" valuable research to en"orce the "ield o" $o%

and let it thrive into "ruition.



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% O)ecti*es

%he main importance o" this report lies in the need to grasp $o% researchers+ attentions and lead

them to realize the importance o"

4. using *S+s "or $o% devices

5. researching $o%speci"ic *S+s

6. developing $o%speci"ic *S+s

7. contributing to $o% applications through specialized *S+s

%he report should

1. de"ine clearly the terms mentioned above

2. use statistics "or the indicators o" $o% *S+s importance speci"ically

3. use statistics "or the indicators o" $o%+s importance generally

+. de"ine the need "or *S+s in the "ield o" $o%

!. e!empli"y important $o% markets

6. e!empli"y important $o% applicationspeci"ic needs3usages



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Research in IoT OS's &

+% ,hat is IoT

%he $nternet o" %hings &$o%' is the vision o" interconnecting ob8ects, users and entities or 9things:.

hile humans can communicate )ith others via various applications and )ebsites, the vision is to

enable human to ob8ect communication, ob8ect to ob8ect communication and various variations

&$%U%, 5;45'.

%he $nternet is no longer limited to human communication, "or e!ample one may communicate )ith

their o)n air conditioner and instruct it to start )orking be"ore arriving home. Even more so, let the

car deliver that instruction automatically, it can use the $nternet to predict tra""ic, tell the air

conditioner that you are heading home and the e!pected arrival time depending on )hich the air

conditioner can decide to )ork on a particular degreeo)ever, )ithout proper research, $o% can

become a threat to people+s lives.

$magine a )orld o" $o% )ithout any regulations, )ithout any security designs, )ithout e""icient use

o" technology. %he result could range "rom simple invasion o" people+s privacy to illegal control o"

cities perhaps even countries. Even ignoring the security threats, ho) about electrical and energy

threats, )hat about e""icient use o" po)er and rules "or conserving it?

As sho)n in -igure 6.4and-igure 6.5, microcontroller unit &MCU' sales have been booming in

the last "e) years. %his is a po)er"ul indicator o" the "uture and demand "or Embedded Systems

)hich as discussed is the underlying natural core o" $o%.



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Research in IoT OS's


Figure3.1: MCU Billion Dollar Sales (Micrium,

2015)

Figure3.2: Billion MCU Unit Si!ments (Micrium,

2015)


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-% ,hat are Operating Systems

*perating Systems &*S+s' are system programs that manage computer resources )hether tangible

resources &like memory, storage, net)ork, input3output etc.' or intangible resources &like running

other computer programs as processes, providing logical ports "or di""erent net)ork connections

etc.'. %he *S mainly comprises o" a kernel, utility so"t)are and a system shell.

%he kernel contains modules "or managing various resources. $t is the real master and controller o"

the hard)are( it gives permissions3authorization to other so"t)are and users to per"orm any action.

%he kernel, "rom its name, is the most essential and core part o" the *S )ithout )hich an *S )ill be

useless. E!amples o" popular kernels are @inu!, Mini!, indo)s 1%, 1U and Uni!. As opposed

to their encompassing *S+s that could be o" various distributions and "lavors like Ubuntu &@inu!',

Android &@inu!', Embedded @inu! &@inu!', -edora &@inu!', /ed>at &@inu!', indo)s B &1%',

indo)s &1%', Mac*S &1U', i*S &1U', -reeDS0 &Uni!', 1etDS0 &Uni!'.

Utility so"t)are supports the *S+s operation and provides the kernel )ith essential so"t)are like

debuggers, compilers, etc. $t also provides users access to basic so"t)are like te!t editors etc.

System shells provide users )ith an inter"ace to the kernel.



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-%$% OS's as an ol# ongoing technology

*S+s have been used as early as the 4=;+s &@avington, 4==F'. %he "irst *S+s )ere uncoordinated,

e!isting )ith almost no agreed upon standards, and proprietary, the code being almost e!clusive to

their developers leaving little to no space "or research.

Since they are an essential part o" almost any computer3device, their developers and designers try

not to change anything that is not broken "or the sake o" stability, &Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /.,

5;4'.1ot being able to change #uickly "orces any "ield to have a slo) research and development

process. %his results in a "ield that is not very attractive )hich "urther impedes its gro)th.

*S+s previously )ere designed a"ter the classical models like the >arvard or 2on 1eumann

architectures, )hich is no longer applicable )ith ne) parallel and distributed models that re#uire

vigorous changes and demand di""erent re#uirements.

*S research thrived )ith open source according to &Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /., 5;4'( )hich )ould

be e!pected since by de"inition, an open source product )ould provide researchers )ith a cheaper

and more accessible code to base their researches upon.



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-%% OS's impact #&e to IoT

9%he @inu! *S is optimized "or a s)eet spotI the ma!imum o" the bell curve covering the area

bounded by the e!tremes. Joing outside these zones )ill compromise the optimizations "or this

s)eet spot. %hus, the @inu! community has less interest in going outside the current zones, )here

innovation can happen.: &Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /., 5;4'


Figure".3: #m!act o$ a!!lication an% ar%&are tren%s on 'Ss, &ats

ro*en in current 'S %esign, an% te 'S outloo*. (Milo+ii-, D., imot/,., 201)


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-urthermore, &Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /., 5;4' believes that current *S+s cannot change enough to

suit "uture changes in both directions &highend and lo)end devices'. *ur concern is lo)end $o%

devices and -igure 7.6sho)s impact on *S design in general including $o% *S+s.

.3.Comparison between IoT !"'s an# nonIoT !"'s

&Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /., 5;4' argues that current *S+s have become highly bloated and are no

longer actively supporting technological advancements. %he article proceeds to stress on hard)are,

so"t)are and net)ork trends that "orce the non$o% *S+s to serve only a speci"ic group instead o"

being generalpurpose.

&>ahm et al, 5;4' describes an $o% *S+s structure "or lo)po)ered devices. All changes and

segments supporting the previous arguments and described in more details in the ne!t segment.


Figure ".": /!ical com!onents o$ an 'S $or lo&en%

#o %eices,inclu%ing a common lo&!o&er #4!rotocol stac*.


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Research in IoT OS's 1+

-%-% .iffering /oncepts

%he "ollo)ing summarizes the analysis by &Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /., 5;4', )hich $ believe,

critically pinpoints the de"ining di""ering concepts bet)een $o% and non$o% *S+s and hence, the

speci"ic need "or $o% *S+s and their research.

%he hard)are trends are changing rapidly to)ards more comple! internal structures )hich demand

control by the *S, this )ould re#uire changes in the *S structure. -urthermore, the hard)are

structure has "le!ible energy re#uirements that should be supported by the *S. Moreover, the

emergence o" 1onvolatile Memory &12M' and 1onvolatile /AM &12/AM' changes the typical

memory model that current *S+s support.

Additionally, even the most stable and "eaturerich *S+s "ail to completely envelope the hard)are

due to proprietary drivers and thus "ail to )ithhold the "undamental purpose o" *S+s as resource

managers. -inally, the diversity and "astpaced technological improvements cannot be "ully

supported by *S+s e!cept through partial )orkarounds or costly development.

*n the other hand, application models are shi"ting to)ards rackscale computing( this demand "or

largescale scalable parallel distributed computing )ould de"initely re#uire a technological shi"t in

the structure o" *S design to match it. Even more, the applications )ould re#uire virtual machine

technologies to adapt to their separate needs o" hard)are, net)orks and supporting so"t)are.

Speci"ically pinpointing the lagging *S aspects, the monolithic kernel inmemory structure that

re#uires the kernel to be the sole controller o" the system "ails the distributed structure )hich has

separate memories across net)ork&s'. %his also a""ects the security o" the system since high

privileged data re#uires secure communication )hich )ould have to occur across plat"orms and

net)orks. More so, it )ill a""ect the scheduling algorithms )hich depend on a limited number o"

native users and their applications rather than a distributed nature.



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Research in IoT OS's 1!

%)o critical stacks o" the *S should also be changed, the net)ork and data storage3"ilesystem

stacks. %hese are a""ected by 0irect Memory Access &0MA' due to their demanding band)idth o"

large data streams. %his causes a demand o" computer structural change like using the net)ork

inter"ace card as a simple s)itch or using solidstate drives as a storage underlying technology.

%hese changes )ould have to be adapted "or largescale parallelized and distributed systems )ith

multicore integration. %heir basic data structures and governing protocols )ould have to be suited

"or their needs.

.$.%ee# for a special !"

hile $o% devices can be managed by comple! embedded device programs, in my opinion,

avoiding the use o" *S+s )ould be ignoring the technological advancements in this particular area.

$o% devices need to manage their resources, *S+s act mainly as resource managers.

$o% devices are usually simple in nature and e!ist mainly "or a "e) purposes like smoke sensors or

a.c. controllers or %2+s etc. >o)ever, ignoring the uses o" *S+s in appropriately managing resources

especially no) that there is an e!tra net)ork stack added to each and every $o% device )ould be

counterproductive.

-inally, the supporting and suggested structural changes discussed previously can only indicate and

prove one thing, that current generalpurpose *S+s are no longer generalpurpose and that speci"ic

purpose *S+s are re#uired "or $o% lo)po)er devices.



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% S&r*ey on IoT OS's

9%iny*S is an open source, DS0licensed operating system designed "or lo)po)er )ireless

devices, such as those used in sensor net)orks, ubi#uitous computing, personal area net)orks,

smart buildings, and smart meters. A )orld)ide community "rom academia and industry use,

develop, and support the operating system as )ell as its associated tools, averaging 6,;;;

do)nloads a year.: &%iny*S, 5;46'

9Contiki is an open source operating system "or the $nternet o" %hings. Contiki connects tiny lo)

cost, lo)po)er microcontrollers to the $nternet.: &Contiki, 5;4'

91ano/K is a "ully preemptive reservationbased realtime operating system &/%*S' "rom

Carnegie Mellon University )ith multihop net)orking support "or use in )ireless sensor net)orks.

1ano/K currently runs on the -ire-ly Sensor 1et)orking Blat"orm as )ell as the MicaL motes. $t

includes a light)eight embedded resource kernel &/K' )ith rich "unctionality and timing support

using less than 5KD o" /AM and 4FKD o" /*M. 1ano/K supports "i!edpriority preemptive

multitasking "or ensuring that task deadlines are met, along )ith support "or CBU, net)ork, as )ell

as, sensor and actuator reservations. %asks can speci"y their resource demands and the operating

system provides timely, guaranteed and controlled access to CBU cycles and net)ork packets.

%ogether these resources "orm virtual energy reservations that allo)s the *S to en"orce system and

task level energy budgets.: &1ano/K, 5;44'

9-ree/%*S is a market leading /%*S "rom /eal %ime Engineers @td. that supports 6 architectures

and received 446;;; do)nloads during 5;47. $t is pro"essionally developed, strictly #uality

controlled, robust, supported, and "ree to embed in commercial products )ithout any re#uirement to

e!pose your proprietary source code. -ree/%*S has become the de "acto standard /%*S "or



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Research in IoT OS's 1&

microcontrollers by removing common ob8ections to using "ree so"t)are, and in so doing, providing

a truly compelling "ree so"t)are model.: &-ree/%*S, 5;4'

9A/MN mbed *S is an open source embedded operating system designed speci"ically "or the

OthingsO in the $nternet o" %hings &$o%'. $t includes all the "eatures you need to develop a connected

product based on an A/M Corte!M microcontroller, and is per"ect "or applications including smart

cities, smart homes and )earables.: &mbed, 5;4'

9/$*% is an operating system designed "or the particular re#uirements o" $nternet o" %hings &$o%'

scenarios. %hese re#uirements comprise a lo) memory "ootprint, high energy e""iciency, realtime

capabilities, a modular and con"igurable communication stack, and support "or a )ide range o" lo)

po)er devices. /$*% provides a microkernel, utilities like cryptographic libraries, data structures

&bloom "ilters, hash tables, priority #ueues', or a shell, di""erent net)ork stacks, and support "or

various microcontrollers, radio drivers, sensors, and con"igurations "or entire plat"orms, e.g. %elosD

or S%M65 0iscovery Doards.: &/$*%, 5;4'

9Drillo brings the simplicity and speed o" so"t)are development to hard)are "or $o% )ith an

embedded *S, core services, developer kit, and developer console.: &Drillo, 5;4'



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Research in IoT OS's 1)

%$% /omparison of IoT OS's

ale 5.1: #o 'S Com!arisons (Seeral Cite% esources)

System 1icense !rchitect&res S&pporte# Technologies S&pporte#

Typical

/onfig&ratio

n Si2e

3rogramming

4o#el

1ang&age5

I.E5

Sim&lator

TinyOS*pen SourceDS0

telos "amily, micaL, $/$S,mica5, the shimmer "amily,

epic, mulle, tinynode, span,

iMote5, MSB76; "amily,

Atmega45F, Atmega45F@,Atmega45F4, p!5a!, CC4;;;,

CC575;, %0A5;, /-545,

/-56;, E45;,A%70D,

S%M5B

Droadcast based /outing,

Brobabilistic /outing, Multi

Bath /outing, Jeographical

/outing, /eliability based/outing, %0MA based

/outing, 0irected 0i""usion,

%inySec

"e) kD /AM4;s kD /*M

Event 0riven,

support "or%*S threads

1esC 3 Any,

%iny0%,Eclipse 3

%*SS$M

/ontii *pen SourceDS0

mica5, micaL, Atmel A/M,Atmel A2/, S%M65), %$

MSB76;, %$ CC576;, %$CC56F, %$ CC56;, %$

CC5;, @BC54;6, -reescaleMC46557, Microchip dsB$C,

Microchip B$C65

lo)pan, /B@, CoAB, %@S,0%@S

5KD /AM7;KD /*M

Brotothreadsand events

C 3 Any 3C**PA

4antis *pen Source mica5, micaL, %E@*S motes;.KD /AM47KD /*M

%hreads C

Nano7R8

*pen Source

0ual @icense

JB@ and

Commercial

micaL, "ire"ly sensor

net)orking plat"orm

/%@ink, BC- %0MA, bmac,

UConnect, i0om

5KD /AM

4FKD /*M%hreads

C 3 Any,

Eclipse 3

1iteOS*pen Source

JB@v6micaL, M$D4;, M$D5; P%AJ

%hreads and

Events@iteCQQ

FreeRTOS

*pen Source

Modi"ied

JB@

A/M, A/M=, A/M

Corte!M6, A/M Corte!M7,A/M Corte!A, /M7!,

%MS;, Corte!/7, Atmel

A2/, A2/65, >CS45, Altera

1ios $$, MicroDlaze, CortusABS4, Cortus ABS6, Cortus

ABS6/, Cortus ABS, Cortus

-B-6, Cortus -BS, Cortus

-BSF, -u8itsu MD=47; series,-u8itsu MD=67; series,

Cold"ire 2F;, FK;/, /enesas

>F3S, MSB76;, F;5, F, /,

Super>, B$C, Atmel SAM6,Atmel SAM7, Atmel SAM,

Atmel SAM=

%CB, U0B, Ethernet, %@S7KD /AM

=KD /*MC

me# OS *pen SourceApache v5.;

A/M Corte!M

@oBA1, CoAB, D@E, i"i,

Ligbee $B, Ligbee @A1,Cellular, Ethernet, %@S, 0%@S

C,CQQ 3 mbedonline $0E 3

RIOT*pen Source

@JB@ v5.4

A/M Corte!M6, A/M Corte!

M7, A/M, A2/ Atmega, %$

MSB76; devices

@oBA1, /B@, CoAB, U0B,

%CB, CD*/, CC1lite,

*penS1, UDPS*1

4.KD /AM

KD /*M%hreads C,CQQ 3 Any 3

>s shon in Ta"le !.18t-pical con(i,ration sies are in a (e ilo"-tes o( R> and RO "ilt

(or e*"edded architectres and plat(or*s. ost OS's are orin, on spportin, $arios lo


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Minimalistic *S+s as sho)n in %able .4 )ill dominate the embedded )orld o" the $nternet o"

%hings( that is not only my opinion but o" other researchers too such as &Milo8iGiH, 0., %imothy, /.,

5;4' "or many reasons as "ollo)s.

$.3."peciali&e# usage of IoT !"'s

As previously mentioned, non$o% *S+s re#uest large resources as opposed to $o% *S+s lo)po)er

lo)resource demands. %his is demanded in most $o% devices )hich are usually constrained devices

relative to processing, storage and in general po)er consumption. %hese devices usually rely on

batteries and hence are constrained.

According to &>ahm et al, 5;4', three $o% *S categories e!ist multithreaded, eventdriven and

)orstcase realtime. %hey believe that /$*%, Contiki and -ree/%*S )ill become the dominant in

the "ield o" $o%. /$*% being dominant in the multithreaded category. Contiki in the eventdriven

category. -ree/%*S in the )orstcase realtime category.



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. IoT OS as an area of researchPournals dedicated to the $o% like the $EEE $o% $nitiative and many other con"erences have been

either initiated or thrived in the past t)o years.

Checking the $nternet Archive "or snapshots o" )ikic"p.com, the number o" $o% call "or papers in

5;47 )as 465. Astonishingly, vie)ing the current version in Panuary 5;4, there are 5= call "or

papers. %he number o" $o% call "or papers has doubled in 5 yearsua)ei

announced that they are developing their o)n $o% *S+s, respectively Drillo *S &Drillo, 5;4' and

@iteos &@iteos, 5;4'.

Duilding on the previous "acts, it is very sa"e to assume that $o% *S as an area o" research is not

only in its beginning, but it is gaining a clear and heavy momentum "or years to come. %his should

place its researchers and specialists in a very high demand in upcoming years and )ould be a clear

sign "or recommendation as a point o" research.



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9% /oncl&sion

%he report has sho)n that the $o% market is rapidly e!panding, the current demand "or $o% and the

"uture )ill contain $o% devices.

%he report displayed various statistics and surveys concerning the demand "or di""erent *S+s and

various con"erences38ournals3industries and )orking on ne) $o% *S+s.

%he report also compared current $o% *S+s )ith one another to vie) their di""erences and their

goals most o" )hich are "or constrained devices.

%he report "urther analyzed these comparisons into a single conclusion, $o% *S research is a ne)

and active point o" research.



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% F&t&re ,or

%his report argued "or the sake o" $o% *S research and a detailed analysis o" a number o" surveys

has been covered to en"orce the argument( this has lead to the conclusion that this type o" research

is )orthy o" contributing to and should be 8oined as early as possible "or greater impact on its

"uture.

Another issue that has been recognized in the re"erenced documents is $o% *S+s security measures

and their urgent need "or standardization. A "e) ideas regarding various encryption schemes and

security protocols have been discussed privately and should be implemented as part o" a "e)

notable $o% *S+s.

-urther )ork )ith more specialized areas o" research such as $o% applications in country)ide

tra""ic, smart grids and large )orld)ide pro8ects concerning the hubble telescope and hackerspace

grids have inspired the author )ith important improvements to $o% *S+s.



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Research in IoT OS's 2+

(eferences@>shton8 200A >shton8 B. 42005. That 'Internet o( Thin,s' Thin,. RFI/ Cornal DD. Retrie$ed

(ro* http:.r(id#ornal.co*articles$ie+)6 on 20168 Can.

@7rillo8 201!A Goo,le /e$elopers 4201!5. 7rillo. de$elopers.,oo,le.co*. Retrie$ed (ro*

https:de$elopers.,oo,le.co*"rillohlen on 20168 Can.

@ontii8 201!A ontii 4201!5. ontii: The Open Sorce OS (or the Internet o( Thin,s. ontii

Documents

Research in Internet of Things' Operating Systems