Nest and Google announce Brillo and Weave for iot applications

Google has teamed up with developers from Nest to announce Brillo, a stripped-down OS for internet-of-things hardware. In addition, Google is introducing Weave, a communication layer to allow hardware based on Brillo to communicate with Android devices, among others.

Brillo is based on Android and mainly contains the basic building blocks of this OS. For example, there is a kernel and a hardware abstraction layer, while certain security components from Android have also been adopted in Brillo. On top of that, Weave has to run, a cross-platform and open communication layer for internet-of-things hardware.

By default, Brillo, which Google developers have worked on together with developers from Nest, supports WiFi and Bluetooth low energy. This should make it easier for developers to include wireless communication in their software. In addition, Android devices that run on Brillo must automatically recognize them using Weave, after which the Iot hardware can be controlled via, for example, a smartphone.

Brillo will be available as a developer preview in the third quarter of this year. Weave, in turn, will be available to developers in the last quarter of 2015.