Google Presents Brillo IoT OS

  • PDF

Google presents another framework for the Internet of Things (IoT) at its I/O conference in the shape of Brillo, an Android-derived operating system promising "an end-to-end, complete solution" for device connectivity.

BrilloDescribed as an "end-to-end functioning OS," Brillo is designed to power the lightweight devices making the IoT, as well as any number of smart home devices.

Networking comes through Weave, a communications layer allowing IoT devices to talk to each other and with the cloud. Similar to offerings such as the ZigBee Cluster Library, it supports wifi and Bluetooth Low Energy, as well low-power networking protocols such as the Google-owned Nest's Thread.

Interestingly developers can use Weave separately from Brillo, and run it on top of existing software stacks for cross-platform communications.

The final piece in the Brillo puzzle is Android-- mobile devices running on the Google OS can act as a control hub for Brillo-powered devices on the network. A bit like Apple's HomeKit, in other words.

Brillo should be available to developers from Q3 2015, while the Weave software stack will be released in Q4 2015. Will it manage to heal a fragmented IoT landscape, we wonder?

Go Project Brillo