Whether Sphere OS can be ported on low end microcontrollers & microprocessors

Question

Whether Sphere OS can be ported on low end microcontrollers & microprocessors?
As we are already using Azure cloud, whether it’s available for us without any additional charges

Answer 1

@Patil, Prashant Thank you for your question, Azure Sphere OS is only available on the MT3620 (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-sphere/hardware/mt3620-product-status).

Having said this, the MT3620 is a compelling offering that can be taken in MCU or module form at any volume for a highly competitive price in-line with low/mid-end Microcontrollers, even with Microsoft's service included (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/azure-sphere/).

Alternatively, if you wish to use your own Silicon, Azure RTOS is available royalty-free on certain partner silicon offerings (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/rtos/#partners). For other silicon there is typically a fee.

Many thanks

Answer 2

Hello Patil Prashant,

Whether Sphere OS can be ported on low end microcontrollers & microprocessors?

No, it is not possible to port Azure Sphere OS to low-end microcontrollers or microprocessors.

The Azure Sphere platform is specifically designed to run on Microsoft's custom System-on-a-Chip (SoC) that is purpose-built for secure IoT devices.

An Azure Sphere crossover MCU consists of multiple cores on a single die, as the following figure shows.

Also Porting the Azure Sphere OS to a different microcontroller or microprocessor would require significant modifications to the OS itself, as well as the hardware it runs on.

Alternate:

Some of the other alternate solution is to use Azure RTOS and Azure IoT Edge, both of which offer a range of tools and libraries for building IoT solutions on a variety of hardware platforms.

You can explore the Azure IoT Hub, Azure IoT Edge, and Azure Digital Twins services to determine the best fit for your project's needs.

As we are already using Azure cloud, whether it’s available for us without any additional charges.

While Azure Sphere hardware is not free, the Azure Sphere platform itself is free to use. The Azure Sphere platform includes a secure operating system (Azure Sphere OS), security services, and development tools for building and deploying secure IoT solutions.

As you design your module or board or prepare for manufacturing, we suggest that you proceed in the following document: Hardware and manufacturing overview

if you have any further query do let us know by commenting in the below section.