The Eclipse Foundation has long been a leader in driving open source innovation across IoT, edge computing, and embedded ecosystems. For over 20 years the Eclipse C/C++ Development Tools (CDT) platform has seen broad adoption in the embedded market. For over a decade the Eclipse IoT and Edge community has been delivering great technology components, runtimes, and platforms. And more recently, the Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle working group and community have started to extend our footprint into the security and safety-conscious automotive industry. Now, the recent additions of Eclipse ThreadX and the OpenHW Group are cementing our position as the go-to destination for developers building embedded systems, particularly in safety-critical domains. These milestones, combined with the Foundation’s robust ecosystem, highlight our role as a hub for collaborative innovation in embedded technologies, especially at the intersection of software and hardware.
Expanding the Ecosystem: ThreadX and the OpenHW Foundation
The ThreadX journey at the Eclipse Foundation began in November 2023 when Microsoft contributed this trusted Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) to the Eclipse community. Originally developed by Express Logic and later acquired by Microsoft, ThreadX has been a cornerstone of safety-critical applications across industries like home appliances, medical devices, automotive, aerospace, and industrial automation. Renowned for its reliability and adherence to stringent functional safety standards, ThreadX continues to empower developers worldwide. Earlier this year the Eclipse ThreadX project was re-certified under functional safety standards IEC 61508, IEC 62304, ISO 26262, and EN50128, making ThreadX the world’s first community-driven, open source RTOS with functional safety certifications.
Building on this strong foundation, we recently launched the ThreadX Alliance. This initiative unites key industry stakeholders to maintain a healthy ecosystem and advance ThreadX development and adoption, particularly in safety-critical applications.
Adding to this momentum, the OpenHW Group has now joined the Eclipse ecosystem as the OpenHW Foundation, bringing its expertise in implementing RISC-V architectures to complement our software initiatives. OpenHW provides developers with permissively licensed, high-quality hardware IP, enabling the creation of advanced embedded real-time systems. In short, OpenHW takes the RISC-V instruction set architecture and makes it real by delivering verified open source-licensed processor designs written in industry standard System Verilog.
Together, ThreadX and OpenHW deliver a powerful combination of proven RTOS capabilities and cutting-edge hardware innovation, providing a solid foundation for embedded and IoT applications.
By combining the proven safety-critical and real-time capabilities of ThreadX, the cutting-edge processor core designs of OpenHW and other Eclipse initiatives—such as Eclipse Zenoh, Sparkplug, and the Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Working Group —we are building an unmatched environment for embedded developers. These advancements position the Eclipse Foundation as the premier destination for open source innovation in safety-critical and high-performance embedded systems.
A Strategy Built on Collaboration
Our vision is to create a cohesive ecosystem where projects across software and hardware domains can collaborate to accelerate embedded systems innovation. The Eclipse Foundation’s collaborative infrastructure ensures that projects like ThreadX and OpenHW are not siloed but rather integrated into a broader strategy that benefits developers and organisations alike:
- IoT and Connectivity: Fundamental protocols like MQTT, Sparkplug, Eclipse Zenoh and Eclipse uProtocol provide robust real-time data sharing and control for industrial IoT and automotive applications. Zenoh’s recent 1.0.0 release sets a new standard for connectivity, particularly in robotics and edge systems.
- Developer Tools: In addition to the widely adopted Eclipse CDT, Eclipse Theia, our modern, extensible IDE, supports safety-critical workflows and can be easily integrated with ThreadX-based projects, simplifying the development of complex embedded solutions.
- Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV): The SDV Working Group is shaping tomorrow’s automotive software landscape. Its intersection with ThreadX and Zenoh, as manifested in uProtocol, enables more robust functional safety and advanced vehicle connectivity, ensuring that developers can confidently build next-generation automotive and mobility systems.
- Multiplatform Integration: The Oniro Working Group develops a distributed operating system for smart devices, collaborating with projects like Theia or Kanto. This cross-project integration fosters an environment where developers can easily combine diverse technologies into coherent, scalable solutions.
- Eclipse Functional Safety Process: The emergence of ThreadX and Eclipse SDV as critical technologies for safety-critical applications will not be possible without a robust development process enabling requirements traceability and comprehensive testing. The evolving Eclipse Foundation functional safety process will guide project teams in the embedded realm and beyond towards code and product certifiability in a uniform, predictable way.
As the home for these initiatives and technologies, the Eclipse Foundation offers an unparalleled ecosystem for developing sophisticated, safety-critical, and connected embedded systems.
The Road Ahead
The additions of Eclipse ThreadX and the OpenHW Foundation mark the start of an exciting new chapter in embedded systems innovation. By uniting cutting-edge hardware, trusted RTOS software, and advanced connectivity solutions, the Eclipse Foundation is poised to become the leading destination for developers working on safety-critical and high performance embedded systems.
We invite developers, organizations, and contributors to join us in shaping the future of embedded technology. Whether you engage through the ThreadX Alliance, the OpenHW Foundation, Eclipse SDV, or other projects within our vibrant ecosystem, you’ll find endless opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
Together, let’s build the future of embedded systems.
