Silicon Labs has adopted permissive license terms for the Micrium µC/ software and is now announcing a new open-source licensing model for this family of RTOS components. Silicon Labs says it is extending the benefits of the µC/ software to the widest user base possible and giving the embedded developer community a role in future software developments.

The new open-source µC/ license model will go into effect on February 28 this year. The open-source license applies to all µC/ software components including µC/OS-II, µC/OS-III, µC/FS, µC/TCP-IP, µC/USB-Device, µC/USB-Host, µC/CAN and µC/Modbus.

“The µC/ family of RTOS components has been a fixture in the embedded market for many years, and open-source licensing represents the next phase in the evolution of this popular software,” said Riku Mettala, vice president of IoT software and tools at Silicon Labs. “This new open-source model means that µC/ software will be freely available to developers seeking a proven foundation for their embedded projects in the commercial domain. The licensing change also ensures that the µC/ components will remain viable across a wide range of market segments including the IoT where open-source software is particularly popular.”

Micrium’s RTOS software has been ported to more than 50 MCU architectures and has a global footprint with more than 250,000 downloads across all embedded vertical markets, with solutions certified to meet safety-critical standards for medical electronics, avionics, communications, consumer electronics and industrial control.

Micrium was founded in 1999 but acquired by Silicon Labs in 2016.