Guest: Kate Stewart (LinkedIn)
Organization | Project: Linux Foundation (Twitter) |  Zephyr (Twitter)
Show: Let’s Talk

With over 1800 contributors into the repo, Zephyr is currently one of the six most active projects at the Linux Foundation. The recent Zephyr Developer Summit brought together the community to showcase new products using Zephyr and to discuss key topics and use cases.

In this episode of TFiR: Let’s Talk, Swapnil Bhartiya sits down with Kate Stewart, Vice President of Dependable Embedded Systems at the Linux Foundation. Stewart goes into depth about the latest Zephyr Developer Summit as well as the highlights and themes. She discusses some of the trends she is seeing with Zephyr adoption and notable use cases. Stewart also gives us some insight into the community and where the project’s primary focus lies.

Key highlights from this video interview are:

• Stewart gives us a low-down of the latest Zephyr Developer Summit, telling us that this year they paired up with the Embedded Linux Conference (ELC) and that embedded was a key theme. She talks about the key discussions such as common problems the Zephyr and Linux communities are experiencing.
• Some of the highlights of the event were three new products using Zephyr: Vestas wind turbines which are now public, the Wio Terminal from Seeed, and the SenseCAP S2110 Sensor Builder from Seeed. Stewart discusses how Zephyr is also being used in wildlife conservation and the different trackers that are being used for animals.
• Zephyr is increasingly finding its way into the consumer space with dog and cat trackers and hearing aids that are using Zephyr. Stewart discusses how Zephyr is adding value to use cases where long battery life is needed and power needs to be conserved.
• Stewart believes that adoption is being driven by the need for everything to be pre-integrated so that you do not have to piece things together yourself. The project is one of the six most active projects at the Linux Foundation with over 1800 contributors into the repo and around 250 people per month participating on the repo.
• Stewart discusses the momentum she is seeing with the project saying they are seeing new technology show up each week. She explains that they are focusing on the LTS for next year and how they are getting everything ready.
• Security remains a primary focus for Zephyr and Stewart talks about how being able to automatically generate SBOMs out of Zephyr has been game-changing, particularly for those working with the Federal Government and the FDA. She tells us how they are currently working on obtaining safety certifications and what other steps they are taking to have responsible disclosure and interact effectively with the community.

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.