Basicconceptsofreal-timeoperatingsystems.docVIP

Basic concepts of real-time operating systems by David Kalinsky (Nov. 18, 2003)The fundamentalsTo most people, embedded systems are not recognizable as computers. Instead, they are hidden inside everyday objects that surround us and help us in our lives. Embedded systems typically do not interface with the outside world through familiar personal computer interface devices such as a mouse, keyboard and graphic user interface. Instead, they interface with the outside world through unusual interfaces such as sensors, actuators and specialized communication links. Real-time and embedded systems operate in constrained environments in which computer memory and processing power are limited. They often need to provide their services within strict time deadlines to their users and to the surrounding world. It is these memory, speed and timing constraints that dictate the use of real-time operating systems in embedded software.Basic kernel servicesIn the discussion below, we will focus on the kernel – the part of an operating system that provides the most basic services to application software running on a processor. The kernel of a real-time operating system (RTOS) provides an abstraction layer that hides from application software the hardware details of the processor (or set of processors) upon which the application software will run. This is shown in Figure1. Figure 1: An RTOS Kernel provides an Abstraction Layer between Application Software and Embedded Hardware In providing this abstraction layer the RTOS kernel supplies five main categories of basic services to application software, as seen in Figure 2. Figure 2: Basic Services Provided by a Real-Time Operating System Kernel The most basic category of kernel services, at the very center of Figure 2, is Task Management. This set of services allows application software developers to design their software as a number of separate chunks of software -- each handling a distinct topic, a distinct goal, and