Nowadays, it is difficult to find anyone even remotely interested in electronics or programming who is not familiar with Arduino. A platform/entire ecosystem dedicated to learning the basics of embedded systems development.
It is important to note the key word here is learning. Comprehensive libraries created by the community for almost every popular module, sensor, and display. They allow us to easily and quickly create a device according to our ideas or needs. Newer development boards also allow for easy connection of the created system to the Internet or radio network. We get the impression that every device is simple. It only takes a development board. A few evenings of programming are all you need. Use a few available libraries, and it becomes an IoT product.
Unfortunately, this is only an illusion. The initially unnoticeable disadvantages of working with Arduino rule out the possibility of its further use in the design of a mass-produced, reliable device. This becomes particularly relevant in the context of professional IoT product development. A deeper exploration of the differences – Arduino vs FreeRTOS – will reveal why. This article will discuss FreeRTOS. It’s the platform that fixes the transition issues from Arduino prototypes to market-ready products.
The true cost of using Arduino
When we evaluate Arduino vs FreeRTOS for any long-term commercial project, we realize the real cost of Arduino isn’t just measured in dollars. It’s measured in technical debt and delayed time-to-market. Honestly, we often see clients stuck in what we call ‘prototyping limbo’ primarily because of the foundational architecture.
How does Arduino loop() cause scaling problems?
The most glaring initial problem, for any engineer trying to scale past a few hundred lines of code, is that monolithic structure centered around the single, infinite loop() function. Yes, it’s convenient for implementing simple functionality. But as soon as the project grows – which is a guarantee for commercial products – the disadvantages become painfully clear.
Why Arduino code is maintenance nightmare?
The code rapidly degrades into spaghetti, quickly becoming a nightmare for readability and maintenance. We’ve found that even for mid-sized projects, the development team’s velocity collapses quickly. It’s a huge bottleneck. Why does this happen? The simple loop() function – the same feature that makes Arduino so friendly – encourages what we can only call poor coding hygiene. There’s a natural pull toward excessive global variables and a critical lack of modularity. Without the structure an RTOS forces on you, debugging becomes extremely difficult. It’s a messy reality that when you add common hardware issues, like incorrect wiring or insufficient power supply, the code can look faulty even when it’s technically correct. This lack of proper structure means you’re fighting both software architecture and hardware pitfalls simultaneously, and you lose.
How accurate is Arduino time keeping?
More critically, you lose all guarantees of consistent execution time – which is the underlying problem behind “Arduino time keeping” questions. Execution isn’t preemptive or scheduled. If an external event demands an immediate response, the processor must wait. It waits until the entire, potentially lengthy, loop() cycle finishes. Early in our career, this caused unacceptable variable latency for one client’s measurement device. That was a total non-starter for their quality assurance team. This lack of control immediately rules out any true real-time operation. It also absolutely complicates synchronization within larger systems. This is especially true when multiple developers share the same codebase. This lack of time-determinism significantly hinders scaling your project and your team.
Can I use Arduino on a Custom PCB?
Beyond the software architecture, the simplicity of Arduino introduces deep constraints when you have to transition to a final, optimized product. This is precisely where the decisions of the CTO and Head of Engineering clash with the initial Proof of Concept (PoC) platform. You see, the move to mass production forces a new set of priorities: cost optimization, power efficiency, and, critically, supply chain stability.
When you’re building a device that needs to live in the field for five to ten years, you can’t rely on off-the-shelf development boards. You need to select specific, dedicated microcontrollers and components based on factors like price point and power draw, then design a custom PCB. The very nature of the Arduino ecosystem often complicates or completely blocks this essential transition, creating a serious bottleneck in the final stages of the product roadmap.
Can Arduino Meet IEC 61508 or ISO 13485 standards?
The Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment) and its associated libraries are built for simplicity and rapid development, and we respect that. However, this simplicity comes at a cost of transparency. The underlying code often lacks the transparency and formal structure required for safety-critical applications. For instance, standards like IEC 61508 (which governs functional safety) demand a highly structured and verifiable software development process. This includes requirements for formal verification, static code analysis, and the avoidance of dynamic memory allocation practices that are not central to the standard Arduino workflow.
Why is FreeRTOS a solution in IoT product development?
In our projects, whether we’re tuning a critical HVAC sensor or optimizing a medical device, the fundamental expectation is simple, yet demanding: deterministic operation meaning predictable execution times and reliable response to external events. To meet this requirement, particularly in regulated environments, Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) aren’t just an option, they’re the industry standard.
The RTOS kernel itself is fundamentally designed for deterministic performance. It rigorously avoids non-deterministic operations, such as traversing a linked list of unknown length from within a critical section or interrupt service routine. This architecture ensures that the time the kernel spends performing its own operations is bounded and predictable, a critical requirement when dealing with hard real-time deadlines and tight synchronization.
Advantages of FreeRTOS vs Arduino
This focus on predictability is why the architecture of an RTOS is a profound shift from the Arduino model. The Arduino model imposes an implicit, sequential control flow where the developer is responsible for manually managing the timing and interleaving of all operations within a single loop(). This is fine for simple scripts, but it leads to latency variability and unmanageable complexity in production systems.
In contrast, an RTOS provides an explicit, event-driven control flow. The ‘task’ is the fundamental architectural unit. This allows us to break a complex application, say, a multi-sensor device into smaller, independent threads of execution. One task can handle network communication, another manages the sensor polling, and the kernel automatically manages the timing and execution based on developer-defined priorities. This concurrent programming model is the source of the RTOS’s power for building complex, reliable, and responsive systems.
Why are we using FreeRTOS?
At WizzDev, we’ve invested heavily in expertise across the leading RTOS platforms. While FreeRTOS remains a proven, lightweight representative that serves as an industry standard, we are also heavily leveraging Zephyr RTOS. We often recommend Zephyr for newer, complex IoT devices because of its robust security features, modularity, and explicit support for multiple wireless stacks and hardware architectures.
Which RTOS should I use: FreeRTOS or Zephyr?
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. By mastering both FreeRTOS and Zephyr, we ensure we select the platform best suited for your product’s specific needs. It’s not about choosing the “best” RTOS, but the right one for your project’s constraints and future roadmap.
FreeRTOS: We often turn to FreeRTOS for projects prioritizing proven stability, minimal footprint, and established legacy support. Its lightweight nature makes it ideal for resource-constrained devices where every kilobyte of memory matters. It’s a reliable, known quantity for a wide range of industrial and smart building applications.
Zephyr RTOS: We are heavily leveraging Zephyr for newer, complex IoT devices because it was built from the ground up with modern security in mind. Zephyr excels due to its robust security features, inherent modularity, and explicit, unified support for multiple wireless stacks (BLE, Zigbee, etc.) and diverse hardware architectures. Its comprehensive support for multiple security protocols and its vendor-neutral governance make it a game-changer when future-proofing a complex, cloud-connected design.
How does FreeRTOS and Zephyr help achieve IEC/ISO compliance?
The inherent advantages of using FreeRTOS or Zephyr mean that device software can be easily certified to demanding standards. For example, the RTOS structure supports adherence to IEC 62304 for medical devices, which mandates secure software creation, development, and maintenance processes, including risk analysis, testing, and configuration management. Another key example is the IEC 61508 standard for the functional safety of safety-related systems. For our clients, this dedication to a professional RTOS platform translates directly to reduced regulatory risk, improved system stability, and a faster path to commercialization.
How to achive operational reliability for 10+ Years with RTOS?
There’s one final, crucial advantage of using RTOS instead of Arduino. When we build a system on a solid RTOS like FreeRTOS or Zephyr, we gain the necessary control to implement robust features like Over-The-Air (OTA) updates and maintain constant, secure connectivity with cloud backends, typically using AWS IoT Core. This architectural maturity ensures that the device software component doesn’t become the weakest link in your end-to-end IoT solution.
When is the tipping point: Arduino vs. FreeRTOS?
Let’s cut right to the chase, because this is the fundamental truth we explain to nearly every client: Arduino is a fantastic tool for learning, FreeRTOS (or Zephyr) is a professional product platform.
We absolutely see the appeal of Arduino. It’s an unparalleled platform for students and newcomers to the embedded world, allowing you to rapidly wire up sensors and prove a concept (Proof of Concept). In a matter of days, you can have a basic, functional prototype.
But in our business, which services industries like Smart Buildings, Smart City and Medical Devices, we are focused on commercial deliverables that require auditable traceability, guaranteed long-term stability, and regulatory compliance. That’s where the abstraction layer that makes Arduino easy for beginners becomes a crippling limitation for engineers.
Our choice of leveraging Real-Time Operating Systems like FreeRTOS or Zephyr in our projects isn’t merely a technical preference, it’s a non-negotiable commitment to our clients’ longevity and risk mitigation. We need that architectural control to guarantee secure boot chains, support products across a 10-year lifecycle, and achieve the deep optimization required when every milliamp of power consumption matters. We focus on building systems that are, from day one, designed to be certifiable and scalable.
