Press release: Renode, an open source framework for scalable development of complex IoT systems
Published:
Stockholm, Sweden - August 17th 2017 - Antmicro, a leading embedded technology provider for the Internet of Things and AI at the edge, presented Renode - an open source framework that allows development teams to build, debug and test software for multi-node device systems reliably, scalably and efficiently.
Renode introduces a comprehensive workflow for embedded IoT developers covering test automation, security hardening and continuous integration in both single devices as well as massive multi-node scenarios.
Based on emulation of entire SoCs and embedded platforms, Renode enables software developers to run unmodified binaries on a virtual device or set of devices instead of flashing real hardware - cutting engineering time and cost while allowing full control over the execution environment.
The framework was created by Antmicro based on the company’s extensive experience drawn from a large pool of embedded systems and IoT projects where common problems included the difficulty to exactly recreate a development setup between developers and teams, lack of repeatability, obscurity of the execution environment, and exponentially increasing complexity of debug and test where more than one core, CPU or device is involved. A highly modular, scriptable and API-driven framework, Renode has been built from the ground up to address the shortcomings of existing tools and pains of everyday embedded systems programming.
Renode offers a completely new development experience bundled with a scalable testing methodology: it allows for integration with automated testing systems and involving many developers simultaneously. Working together with customers and partners Antmicro has successfully integrated Renode with CI and test frameworks such as Robot, Buildbot, Jenkins and GitLab CI.
Renode comes as an answer to the rapidly growing demand for built-to-scale solutions for embedded device networks - from smart factories, buildings and home to complex IoT systems becoming the tissue of modern cities.
“Providing the ability to simulate both wired and wireless network connections between virtual nodes and running them in a single execution environment, Renode enables the testing and debugging of protocols and inter-device interactions as well as interoperability and security checks, the importance of which is becoming evident in the increasingly complicated IoT landscape,” said Michael Gielda, Business Development Manager at Antmicro.
Antmicro offers professional support, implementing new platforms, building customized tools, user interfaces and integrations for Renode as well as embedded systems development services powered by the Renode methodology.
One of the recent projects in the IoT domain is a collaboration between Antmicro and Zephyr™ Project which aims to create a continuous integration environment for the Zephyr RTOS’ networking stack for regression and interoperability testing purposes.
“With the growing size and complexity of IoT systems, it becomes almost impossible to test protocols thoroughly on real hardware,” explains Anas Nashif, Zephyr™ Project Architect, “Renode lets you devise varied scenarios and investigate different setups to improve test coverage and thus the quality and dependability of your solution.”
For more information on Renode and how to get started, visit the project’s website and GitHub account.
About Antmicro
Antmicro is an embedded systems company providing technologies and development services for the emerging ecosystem of the Internet of Things, with cross-competence between SW and HW. Antmicro helps customers create smart, innovative products by designing on-board computers, gateways, touchscreen UIs and sensor networks. Antmicro embraces open source and is a member of industry organizations such as the IPSO Alliance and RISC-V Foundation. For more information, visit http://antmicro.com/.
About Renode
Renode™ is an open source framework developed by Antmicro that lets you develop, debug and test IoT devices and systems reliably, scalably and effectively. It enables running unmodified software for embedded devices on a PC for development and testing of large wireless or wired networks without the need for physical hardware. The repeatability, control and scalability offered by Renode drastically improves the development experience especially for multi-node systems and protocols and enables a new Continuous Integration (CI) driven workflow. For more information, visit http://renode.io/.
