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# RIOT Vision {#vision} | ||
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We expect an evolution in the software platforms powering Internet of Things | ||
devices that can be compared, to some extent, to the recent evolution of | ||
software platforms powering smartphones. | ||
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In a few years time, software platforms powering smart handheld devices has | ||
speed-evolved from a state where dozens of closed-source, slow progress, | ||
proprietary solutions where used, to a state where a couple of major players | ||
have imposed new de facto standards in terms of software platform openness, | ||
interoperability, and automatic updating. On the bright side, this has led to | ||
much quicker paced progress, and to the development of billions of new | ||
applications built on top of these platforms, which interact in innovative ways | ||
with one another and with the cloud. At this point, let's make two remarks about | ||
the dark side of this evolution. First, while companies pushing iOS and Android | ||
use such software platforms as more tools to achieve profit-oriented goals | ||
(e.g., accumulating and monetizing personalized information), RIOT is developed | ||
and maintained by a non-profit, open source community of developers organized | ||
around principles that are mainly inspired by the Linux community or the IETF | ||
community. Second, while the true level of openness of iOS or Android is debatable, | ||
RIOT aims instead at a Linux-like openness. | ||
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That said, we expect a revolution in the software platforms powering Internet of | ||
Things (IoT) devices, and we expect this revolution to be as game-changing as | ||
the aforementioned evolution of the software platforms powering smart handheld | ||
devices (retaining only its bright side, hopefully). It is yet unclear which IoT | ||
software platforms will emerge as dominant -- RIOT is a contender. It is however | ||
quite likely that new standards will be set in the near future, in terms of IoT | ||
software platform openness, API, automated software updates and other | ||
characteristics that are necessary to enable a modern, large scale, secure ecosystem. | ||
Such an IoT software evolution will quite likely fuel a new world of distributed | ||
applications developed by a large variety of actors, on top of the dominant open | ||
software platform(s). These applications will leverage both spontaneous wireless | ||
networks, the cloud and the denser, interconnected environment of heterogeneous | ||
devices that we will find ourselves in. | ||
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Our vision is the emergence of an entirely new reality in which our interface to | ||
the Internet will no longer be predominantly a screen, but rather the objects of | ||
the cyber-physical system embodied by the Internet of Things itself. RIOT is an | ||
open source operating system that aims to power IoT devices in this new reality. | ||
RIOT aims to provide a powerful, but very low memory footprint software platform, | ||
that enables any programmer to develop applications on typical IoT devices with | ||
zero learning curve (assuming prior experience with POSIX and Linux for instance). | ||
RIOT aims for shortened development life-cycles, using standard languages, and | ||
well-known debugging tools. RIOT implements a micro-kernel architecture that provides | ||
built-in robustness, real-time capabilities and energy efficiency -- future-proof | ||
properties, required by many IoT applications to come. | ||
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In this context RIOT aims to power a modern, large scale, evolutive, and secure | ||
cyber-physical ecosystem, comprising of heterogeneous IoT devices, distributed | ||
processes and applications, that can seamlessly interconnect with one another | ||
and with the cloud, leveraging standard network stacks (including IPv6 | ||
interoperability) available in RIOT. |