Industrial automation is the main focus of open source IoT

All sectors of the Internet of Things (IoT) are showing an increase in the development of solutions throughout 2023, but industrial automation (33%) is once again the main area of focus, followed by agriculture (29%). The other segments that continue to grow are building automation, energy management and smart cities. The finding was made in the ninth edition of a survey by the Eclipse Foundation, one of the largest open source software foundations in the world, which assessed the IoT and Edge Computing scenarios, the opportunities and the challenges faced by developers of open source solutions.

“It’s clear that developers are creating solutions exploiting open-source technologies to address current challenges in the IoT environment in industrial, agricultural and government settings. The results of this year’s survey showed some very interesting trends, especially those related to use cases and technology choices,” says Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation.

5G technologies are enabling the accelerated adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The use of cellular connectivity has doubled from 2022 levels (44% vs. 22%) mostly due to 5G penetration, while Wi-Fi (38% vs. 36%), Ethernet (38% vs. 29%) and Bluetooth (23% vs. 20%) connections remain viable options.

Control Logic (40%) has overtaken Artificial Intelligence (37%) as the most common Edge Computing workload. Does this mean that there is a renewed focus on the practical aspects of delivering real solutions? Only time will tell, the study emphasizes.

According to research, ARM architecture continues to dominate the scene, especially among devices with limited resources, but RISC-V is already making some inroads. Gateways and edge devices are turning to 64-bit architectures.

Developers indicated that Java is the preferred language for IoT gateways and edge nodes, while C, C++ and Java are the most used languages for devices with limited resources. MQTT, meanwhile, is the main communication protocol in Industrial IoT (IIoT), with almost half of developers (49%) indicating a preference for this protocol; MQTT + Sparkplug came in at 8% of mentions.

When it comes to operating systems, Linux (43%) and FreeRTOS (25%) are the preferred options for use on devices with limited resources. A 17% share of developers prefer not to use any operating system (bare metal), while Zephyr now has a 13% preference, compared to just 8% in the 2022 edition of the study. Linux (58%, compared to 51% in 2022), Windows (29% compared to 42% in 2022) and Android (25%) are the main operating system choices for IoT gateways and edge nodes.

Communication continues to be the main focus of security technologies (e.g. TLS, DTLS), with 39% of respondents’ answers compared to 26% in 2022, while over-the-air updates have overtaken other tools and taken second place (24%, compared to 15% in 2022).

The security of the software supply chain has become an essential issue for developers in the IoT/edge computing ecosystem for 70% of respondents.

According to the study, the exit of IoT middleware providers from the market in 2022 or the intention to do so, including Google Cloud IoT Platform, Bosch IoT Suite, IBM Watson IoT and SAP Internet of Things, has created opportunities for other companies. On the other hand, only 12% have migrated to a new provider, even though almost half of those interviewed reported a relationship with one or more of these providers.

Recommendations

In the study, the Eclipse Foundation lists some recommendations for developers of IoT solutions.

• Promote collaboration between projects and sectors of activity to be able to provide comprehensive solutions that address different challenges;
• Diversify the adoption of operating systems and RTOS (Real Time Operating Systems), such as FreeRTOS, Zephyr and ThreadX;
• Use MQTT for communication in IIoT environments, possibly combining it with Sparkplug;
• Prioritise the security of the software supply chain by implementing robust measures;
• Explore the opportunities in middleware, leveraged by the departure of providers such as Google, IBM and SAP. New middleware options can cater for specific applications or vertical markets.