Renesas, STMicroelectronics and Ac6 join the Zephyr Project as it Launches the 3.6 Release

Community Support Surges as Zephyr RTOS Adoption Continues in Products

SAN FRANCISCO, February 26, 2024 – Today, the Zephyr® Project announced that Renesas Electronics Corporation, STMicroelectronics and Ac6 have joined as Silver members. Zephyr, an open source project at the Linux Foundation that builds a secure, connected and flexible RTOS for future-proof and resource-constrained devices, is easy to deploy and manage. It is a proven RTOS ecosystem created by developers for developers.

 The Zephyr 3.6 release is a significant step towards delivering the next Long-Term Support version of the project later this year. It includes several security-focused features such as the integration of TF-M 2.0, and improved tooling for SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) generation. With over 30 new boards added across the entire range of supported architectures (Arm, RISC-V, x86, Xtensa, ...), Zephyr now supports over 600 boards that developers can readily use to build their embedded applications.  

A Growing Community

Zephyr RTOS has a growing set of software libraries that can be used across various applications and industry sectors such as Industrial IoT, wearables, machine learning and more. It is built with an emphasis on broad chipset support, security, dependability, long-term support releases and a growing open source ecosystem.

Renesas, STMicroelectronics and Ac6 join Arduino, AVSystem, Baumer, BayLibre, Blues, Golioth, Infineon, IRNAS, Laird Connectivity, Linaro, Memfault, Percepio, Silicon Labs, Sternum, Synopsys, Technology Innovation Institute, Texas Instruments and Wind River as Silver members. Platinum members include Analog Devices, Antmicro, Google, Intel, Meta, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP, Oticon, Qualcomm Innovation Center and Zeiss.

“We are excited to join the Zephyr RTOS community and collaborate with a dynamic and diverse group of developers to foster innovation and deliver reliable solutions to our customers,” said Mohammed Dogar, Vice President of Embedded Processing Business Development Division, Renesas. “The Zephyr Project's focus on collaboration, key technology integration, and a robust ecosystem makes it an ideal platform for accelerating time-to-market and ensuring the success of embedded systems. We look forward to actively contributing to the Zephyr community and advancing the development of open-source, field-proven solutions together.”

“At Ac6, we provide the tools and support necessary for you to expand your knowledge,” said Roy Jamil, Project Director at Ac6. “Our belief in the Zephyr Project and its contributions to the embedded community is strong. That's why we are proud to back this initiative, thanks to our training that enables our customers to integrate Zephyr seamlessly into their projects. Ac6's course is designed to equip developers with the knowledge and skills necessary to fully leverage Zephyr's capabilities. We believe that through our comprehensive training and hands-on approach, participants will be able to harness the power of Zephyr to innovate and enhance their embedded systems projects." Learn more by clicking here.

The 3.6 Release

The 3.6 release is an important milestone ahead of the upcoming Long-Term Support (LTS) version of the project. In particular, Zephyr 3.6 integrates Trusted Firmware-M 2.0, a key component for building secure devices. The project also includes improved Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) management tools, therefore helping users ensure that security vulnerabilities can be identified and mitigated in a timely manner.

As Zephyr expands its reach into new types of embedded applications, the numerous enhancements made to the input subsystem makes this release an ideal platform for building devices that feature keypads, touchscreens, and other forms of analog or digital input devices.

Additionally, a newly formed Sensors Working Group has helped drive many improvements of the sensor subsystem. Zephyr 3.6 provides a rich API to implement complex sensor fusion algorithms while keeping power consumption low.

Other notable additions in this release include:

• GNSS subsystem for adding spatial awareness to Zephyr applications;
• Networking services that allow to create socket and CoAP servers using resources more efficiently; and
• New drivers for a wide variety of sensors and peripherals, from round LCD displays to environmental sensors, to cellular modems, and more.

With more than 30 new boards, Zephyr 3.6 now supports well over 600 boards. Some of the newly supported boards include the popular Arduino UNO R4, a variety of boards with bleeding-edge wireless capabilities such as Nordic Semiconductor's nRF9151 DK and nRF9131 EK, ST Nucleo WBA55CG, and many more. Learn more in the 3.6 blog and video.

These improvements enable more products to leverage Zephyr. Recent products featured on the Zephyr Product Page include:

• gaitQ tempo - A device that enables people with Parkinson’s to walk better using a discreet vibration cueing system.
• Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition - A thin, light, high-performance 13.5″ notebook that is fully modular and easy to repair, upgrade and customize.
• REEKON T1 Tomahawk - A digital tape measure that enables tradespeople across industries to collect measurements faster and more accurately.
• Lisios WaterAlarm - A non-invasive early warning system for water leaks that helps consumers save water.

If you are leveraging Zephyr in your products, fill out this form for inclusion on the product page.

See Zephyr RTOS in-person

The Zephyr Project will also have a booth at embedded world, which takes place in Nuremberg, Germany on April 9-11, that will feature several member demos, a product showcase and more. Stay tuned here for more details.

Zephyr Developer Summit takes place on April 16-18 in Seattle, Washington, as part of the Embedded Open Source Summit (EOSS). Launched in 2021, the annual Zephyr Developer Summit is for developers using or considering Zephyr RTOS in embedded products. EOSS and Zephyr Developer Summit are co-located with Open Source Summit North America and other events. Registration for one event offers access to all events. Learn more or register here.

About the Zephyr Project

The Zephyr® Project is an open source, scalable real-time operating system (RTOS) supporting multiple hardware architectures. To learn more, please visit www.zephyrproject.org.