IoT Operating Systems: Perspective, Availability and Proposed New Architecture

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is penetrating our lives faster than earlier due to the fact that it can create valuable real time data without any human interference. As there is no human involved, data generation is certain irrespective of any situation. The accuracy depends upon the sensors used in the implementation. Operating System is a basic and important part of any computational system, so is the case with IoT. However, IoT is still in its infancy, proper standards are yet to be developed and formalized. There are many IoT Operating Systems available in the market, both open source and closed. Users select from the available OS as per their suitability and requirements. However, there is no standard Operating System which can suit all IoT installations/designs. This paper discusses the main features of existing IoT Operating Systems and parameters suitable for IoT Operating Systems. While using these existing Operating Systems, we have come across many issues, both technical and management. These issues are discussed in this paper with utmost care and we have tried to address the users' concern with these. Based on these issues, we tried to derive revised architecture of IoT Operating System which can take care of these issues if they are implemented. We have taken into account the existing architecture of Contiki and RIOT OS while deriving revised architecture. Since IoT is slowly but surely spreading its wings to industrial applications, security is utmost important. Many security issues are still to be addressed by existing Operating Systems; hence, our main concern is to address such issues.