Linux should be considered as an RTOS

New challenges have always excited Linux and its evangelist followers namely the Linux community. With the latest release of Linux, the community claims that they are offering Linux to be more or less considered as a real time operating system (RTOS).

The genesis of real time operating systems began with the emergence of mission critical operations where the response time was immediate hence the word real time is connoted. Extending the meaning an example of a real time system can be considered in the case of a missile, rocket control where the system response time is in real time.

In most of the real-life applications, real-time systems often work in an embedded scenario and most of the embedded systems have real-time processing needs. Such software is called real-time embedded software systems. Examples of embedded applications include microwave ovens, washing machines, telecommunication equipments.

• Task scheduling and preemption


• Memory management and I/O services


• Support for your processor of choice


• Portability to new processors


• Scalability to match varied application requirements


• Extended services such as network support


• Vertical application support like SNMP-Network Management


• POSIX standards compliance -any RTOS that complies with the POSIX standard would share a standard API (application programming interface).Interface to the underlying hardware
  
  

• enhanced real-time performance


• easier porting to new computers


• support for large memory models,


• support for micro controllers, and an improved I/O system supports small micro controllers, to massive parallel processors


• pre-emption points in the kernel, an efficient scheduler, and improved synchronization.


• pre-emptible kernel. the algorithm used for scheduling has been made more efficient.


• Linux 2.6 provides a different way of achieving multiprocessing, called Non Uniform Memory Access, or NUMA.

 

Linux has grown in time and is accommodating itself to be present in the Integrated development environment (IDE). Typically the IDE includes, language compilers, debuggers, editors, and a source code control system. The key advantages of using an IDE is that designers may find it more advantageous to use a totally integrated environment from a single vendor. Take the case when a single vendor develops both pieces of code, the development environment can include features that are RTOS-aware.

Headed in this direction, is WindRiver, the leader in commercial RTOS with its recently released RTOS IDE product called WindPower IDE 2 that allows companies to work with both VxWorks and Linux operating environments. WindPower IDE 2 supports development on the Linux kernel and promises to be well integrated with the next generation of WindRiver Platforms.

In-line is BlueCat Linux, which is based on Red Hat Version 6.1, containing the Linux 2.2.12-20 kernel, and will be shipped with a Lynx open development environment that allows user to create variations of the embedded Linux operating system according to application requirements. To further integrate its support, for the two operating systems (LynxOS and BlueCat Linux), Lynx recently added support for Linux-hosted development of LynxOS based real-time applications, developers can use debugging tools from Lynx while working on Linux-based workstations to cross compile for their chosen embedded microprocessor.

The future of Linux will open with areas like consumer electronics applications such as mobile phones, digital televisions, set-top boxes and automotive telematics, which will prove challenging and innovative for the Linux community as well.

The major challenges for the real-time embedded systems in the future (based on their application) are going to be RAS (reliability, availability and scalability) besides security and performance with deterministic behavior. As the real-time embedded systems become more complex in future, maintaining them would be a big challenge.

The views expressed in this article are that of the author and may not be attributed to CIOL.