Abstract—The wireless sensor network (WSN) is an interesting
area for modern day research groups. Tiny sensor nodes
are deployed in a diversity of environments but with limited
resources. Scarce resources compel researchers to employ an
operating system that requires limited memory and minimum
power. Tiny operating system (TinyOS) is a widely used operating
system for sensor nodes, which provides concurrency and
flexibility while adhering to the constraints of scarce resources.
Comparatively, TinyOS is considered to be the most robust,
innovative, energy-efficient, and widely used operating system
in sensor networks. This paper looks at the state-of-the-art
TinyOS and the different dimensions of its design paradigm,
programming model, execution model, scheduling algorithms,
concurrency, memory management, hardware support platforms,
and other features. The addition of different features in TinyOS
makes it the operating system of choice for WSNs. Sensing nodes
with TinyOS seem to show more flexibility in supporting diverse
types of sensing applications.