Written by Herbert Wikheim, CTO of Lilbit AS
In today’s fast-paced world, the need for efficient and reliable real-time operating systems (RTOS) has become paramount, especially in the realm of IoT devices. Among the many options available, Zephyr RTOS has been gaining popularity among developers for its security, ease of use and community.
In this blog, we will explore how we at Lilbit®, a leading provider of IoT pet trackers, has been utilizing Zephyr RTOS in our products to achieve optimal performance and reliability. We will dive into the benefits and how it has helped Lilbit to streamline our development process, reduce time to market, and deliver high-quality products that meet the demands of our customers.
Founded in 2016, Lilbit aims to develop technology that takes care of those around us. At the heart of our commitment lies a genuine love for animals. We believe that all animals deserve the same care and respect that they give us. If we take care of the animals, they will take care of us. Today, our products are sold through the EU registered tradenames Lildog® and Lilcat®. With us, all products, software and services are built from the ground up for seamless integration and security. By taking ownership throughout the process, within a small and carefully selected segment, we tailor world-class products.
So, let’s take a closer look at how we are leveraging the power of Zephyr RTOS to stay ahead of the competition in the ever-evolving IoT landscape.
Ready to Use Drivers
In addition to its scalability and ease of use, Zephyr RTOS also offers a wide range of embedded drivers that are essential for our IoT device development. We have been leveraging these drivers to great effect in our products.
One such driver is the Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) driver, which allows for communication between microcontrollers and peripheral devices such as sensors and displays. By using the Zephyr I2C driver, we have been able to easily interface with a wide range of I2C devices, such as accelerometers, external flash storage and LED controllers, reducing development time and increasing product compatibility.
Similarly, the General-Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) driver is used to control the state of digital input/output pins on microcontrollers. Lilbit has used this driver to enable various features on our IoT devices, such as monitoring different types of button presses.
Finally, the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) driver is essential for IoT devices that require local wireless communication. By using the Zephyr BLE driver, Lilbit has been able to integrate Bluetooth functionality into our products quickly and efficiently, enabling seamless communication with smartphones using our app.
Configurability & Modularity
In addition to its embedded drivers, Zephyr also provides powerful configuration tools that enable Lilbit to easily customize our IoT devices. Two such tools are Kconfig and DeviceTree.
Kconfig is a configuration system that enables developers to configure various aspects of our Zephyr-based project, including the selection of drivers, enabling/disabling features, and specifying compile-time options. By using Kconfig, Lilbit has been able to easily customize our devices without having to modify any source code. This modular approach has simplified our codebase and made it possible to have only one for both of our Lildog and Lilcat products, making it easier to manage and maintain.
DeviceTree is another configuration system that enables developers to describe the hardware components of our devices in a structured, device-independent format. By using DeviceTree, Lilbit has been able to abstract away the hardware details of our devices and write more portable, device-independent code. This approach has simplified our development process, as it has enabled us to write code that is agnostic to the underlying hardware.
Conclusion
We’re proud of the innovative solutions that our team has developed using Zephyr RTOS. Zephyr has enabled us to build IoT devices that are scalable, reliable, and secure, while also providing us with the flexibility to easily customize our products.
Overall, Zephyr RTOS has been a key enabler for Lilbit, helping us to build innovative IoT devices that are optimized for performance, reliability, and security. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Zephyr and exploring new ways to leverage its powerful capabilities.