Beyond Linux and its many existing RTOS microkernel competitors, developers considering designs based on the Internet of Things now have available a number of IoT-specific OS and customizable OS services alternatives.

The role of the POSIX API in providing a platform independent means for porting embedded apps between Linux and Unix systems as well as between POSIX-compliant RTOSes.

In the first in a two-part series, Bob Zeidman describes how to synthesize your own application-specific OS to handle many tasks that Internet-of-Things designs require, rather than search for a proprietary or open-source RTOS to do such tasks.

Why resource-constrained MCUs for the IoT need an operating system appropriate to the connectivity and how the jNet's JavaCard-based OS can satisfy this requirement.

A description of RIOT, an open source real time operating system that explicitly considers devices with minimal resources but eases development across a wide range of devices.

An examination and comparison of existing OSes for WSNs, including TinyOS, Contiki, and LiteOS as well as some traditional embedded RTOSes such as VxWorks.

A comprehensive review of existing work in sensornet (aka IoT) operating system design from the perspective of OS developers and users and a taxonomy of current sensor OS capabilities and features.

An OS for extremely resource constrained sensor nodes that supports C programming and provides Unix-like abstractions to wireless sensor networks by mapping a sensor network into a UNIX-like file system.

Ranjit Adiga describes how his company did away with the need for a full RTOS implementation by using a hardware/software system modelling tool to build a dedicated scheduler.

Here are three ways to build an instant “up and running” RTOS for use on any target system requiring only some compilation and minimal hardware resources.

Invented in the age of mainframes and minicomputers, the role of operating system-mediated multitasking is thriving in RTOSes as the best way to manage embedded system resources in real-time and deterministic way.

Richard Barry of FreeRTOS.org examines who the winners and losers will be in ARM's decision to add an RTOS to its Cortex-M hardware abstraction layer, through the release of CMSIS 3 (Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard 3).

The author explains how multitasking can be used to make application code more responsive in embedded Linux designs.