Real-Time Operating Systems

(Working Draft)

Originally Prepared by Sebastian Fischemeister

Modified by Insup Lee

CIS 541, Spring 2010

What is an Operating System (OS)?

 A program that acts as an intermediary between a
user of a computer and the computer hardware
 Operating system goals:
o Execute user programs and make solving user problems
easier.
o Make the computer system convenient to use
 Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner

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Computer System Components
1. Hardware – provides basic computing resources
(CPU, memory, I/O devices)
2. Operating system – controls and coordinates the
use of the hardware among the various application
programs for the various users
3. Applications programs – define the ways in which
the system resources are used to solve the
computing problems of the users (compilers,
database systems, video games, business programs)
4. Users (people, machines, other computers)

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Abstract View of System Components

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What is an RTOS (Real-Time OS)?
 Often used as a control device in a dedicated
application such as controlling scientific experiments,
medical imaging systems, industrial control systems,
and some display systems

 Well-defined fixed-time constraints

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More Precisely?
 The system allows access to sensitive resources with
defined response times.
o Maximum response times are good for hard real-time
o Average response times are ok for soft real-time

 Any system that provides the above can be classified

as a real-time system
o 10us for a context switch, ok?
o 10s for a context switch, ok?

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Taxonomy of RTOSs
 Small, fast, proprietary kernels
 RT extensions to commercial timesharing systems
 Component-based kernels
 Monolithic kernels

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Small, Fast, Proprietary Kernels

 They come in two varieties:
o Homegrown
o Commercial offerings
 Usually used for small embedded systems
 Typically specialized for one particular application
 Typically stripped down and optimized versions:
o Fast context switch
o Small size, limited functionality
o Low interrupt latency
o Fixed or variable sized partitions for memory management
 PICOS18, pSOS, MicroC, …
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RT Extensions
 A common approach is to extend Unix
o Linux: RT-Linux, RTLinuxPro, RTAI,
o Posix: RT-Posix
o MACH: RT-MACH
 Also done for Windows based on virtualization.
 Generally slower and less predictable.
 Richer environment, more functionality.
 These systems use familiar interfaces, even standards.
 Problems when converting an OS to an RTOS:
o Interface problems (nice and setpriority in Linux)
o Timers too coarse
o Memory management has no bounded execution time
o Intolerable overhead, excessive latency

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How to do an RT Extension?
 Compliant kernels
o Takes an existing RTOS and make it execute other UNIX
binaries (see LynxOS).
o Interfaces need to be reprogrammed.
o Behavior needs to be correctly reimplemented.

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How to do an RT Extension?
 Dual kernels
o Puts an RTOS kernel between the hardware and the OS.
o Hard tasks run in the RTOS kernel, the OS runs when
CPU is available.
o Native applications can run without any changes.
o Hard tasks get real-time properties.
o See RTLinuxPro

 Problems:
 A single failing hard task can kill the whole system.
 The RTOS kernel requires its own IO drivers.

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How to do an RT Extension?
 Core kernel modifications
o Takes the non-RT operating systems and modifies it to
become an RTOS.
 Problem: (need to do all this)
o Implement high-resolution timers
o Make the kernel preemptive
o Implement priority inheritance
o Replace FIFOs with priority queues
o Find and change long kernel execution paths

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Component-based Kernels
 The source consists of a number of components that can be selectively
included to compose the RTOS.
 See OS-Kit, Coyote, PURE, 2k, MMLite, Pebble, Chaos, eCos.

 eCos
o Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
o Real-time kernel Counters -- Count event occurrences
Clocks -- Provide system clocks
 Interrupt handling Alarms -- Run an alarm function
Mutexes -- Synchronization primitive
 Exception handling Condition Variables -- Synchronization primitive
Semaphores -- Synchronization primitive
 Choice of schedulers Mail boxes -- Synchronization primitive
Event Flags -- Synchronization primitive

 Thread support
Spinlocks -- Low-level Synchronization Primitive
Scheduler Control -- Control the state of the scheduler
Interrupt Handling -- Manage interrupt handlers
 Rich set of synchronization primitives
 Timers, counters and alarms
 Choice of memory allocators
 Debug and instrumentation support

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Component-based Kernels
 eCos
o µITRON 3.0 compatible API
o POSIX compatible API
o ISO C and math libraries
o Serial, ethernet, wallclock and watchdog device drivers
o USB slave support
o TCP/IP networking stacks
o GDB debug support
 All components can be added through a
configuration file that includes and excludes parts of
the source code.

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Research Kernels
 Many researchers built a new kernel for one of
these reasons:
o Challenge basic assumptions made in timesharing OS
o Developing real-time process models
o Developing real-time synchronization primitives
o Developing solutions facilitating timing analysis
o Strong emphasis on predictability
o Strong emphasis on fault tolerance
o Investigate the object-oriented approach
o Real-time multiprocessor support
o Investigating QoS
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What Typically Differs

Requirements
 RTOS must be predictable
o We have to validate the system
o We have to validate the OS calls/services
 We must know upper bounds to
o Execution time of system calls
o Memory usage
 We must have static bounds on
o Memory layout
o Size of data structures (e.g. queues)
 Fine grain interrupt control

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RTOS Predictability
 All components of the RTOS must be predictable
o System calls, device drivers, kernel internal management
 Memory access
o Page faults, lookup time, caches
 Disk access
o Bound for head movement while reading/writing data
 Net access
o Bound for time for transmission, switching
o Dropped packets??
 Scheduling must be deterministic
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Admission Control
 Admission control is a function that decides if new
work entering the system should be admitted or
not.
 To perform this it requires:
o A model of the state of system resources
o Knowledge about incoming requests
o An algorithm to make the admission decision
o Policies for actions to take upon admission and rejection

 Statically scheduled systems require no admission

control.
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Admission Control
 The admission algorithm requires preanalyzed tasks
 Shared data
 Execution time
 Precedence information
 Importance level
 Deadlines
 Positive decision assigns time slices to the task
 Negative decision has options:
o Run a simpler version of the task
o Run on a different machine
o Reject the task

 Admission algorithms can be complex as they have to consider multiple resources

(e.g., networked video streaming).

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Resource Reservation
 Resource reservation is the act of actually assigning
resources to a task.
o Initially no resource reservation, only allocation as the
task runs.
o Valuable for hard real-time systems.
o Introduces an overhead as resources might be unused
 => introduction of resource reclaiming strategies

 Closely linked to resource kernels that offer

interfaces for resource reservation, donation, and
reflection.
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Task Declaration
 RTOSs tailored to microprocessors often require a
static declaration of tasks.

 Advantages are:
o Simple check that the system has sufficient resources.
o No admission control necessary.
o No overhead introduced by the admission test.
o No thread spawning problems

 => but quite static

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Boot from ROM
 The RTOS typically boots from the ROM when used
on microprocessors.
 Requires the application program to actually start up
the RTOS:
void main (void) {
/* Perform Initializations */
...
OSInit();
...
/* Create at least one task by calling
OSTaskCreate() */
OSStart();
}

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Configurability
 As mentioned with component-based RTOS, the
system must be configurable.
 Include only components needed for the present
system
 Components must be removable
o Inter-module dependencies limit configurability
 Configuration tailors OS to system
o Different configuration possibilities
 Example RoboVM (PICDEM and modular robot).

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Configurability
 Remove unused functions
o May be done via linker automatically
 Replace functionality
o Motor placement comes in three functions:
 Calculated
 Lookup table (program memory)
 Lookup table (EEPROM)
 Conditional compilation
o Use #if, #ifdef constructs
o Needs configuration editor
o Example: Linux make config….

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Problem with Configurability

 Per (boolean) configuration option, we obtain two
new OS versions.
 Embedded systems require extensive testing.
 The application must be tested with each
configuration separately:
o 100 configuration options we get around 2^100
o Require hardware setup
o Require software setup
o Require reporting for automated testing

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Embedded RTOS I/O
 I/O normally only through kernel via a system call.
o Expensive but provides control

 In an RTOS for embedded systems, tasks are

allowed to do I/O operations directly
o Direct fast access
o Direct task to task communication between chips

 Problem: Can cause troubles if tasks interfere

 Solution: Programmer must do synchronization too

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Embedded RTOS: Interrupts

 Normal OS: Interrupts are kernel only
o Must be reliable (dropped disk interrupts…)
o Costly: Notification via context switch/syscalls

 Embedded OS: tasks can use interrupts

o Again: only trusted/tested programs
o Speed important
o Fast task control possible
o But: modularity decreases, as tasks may have to share
interrupts correctly

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PICOS18 Interrupt Routine
 Part of the user application.
 One for the high priority interrupts and one for low
priority interrupts.

 Most important part: AddOneTick()

 Let’s have a look.

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PICOS18 Context Switch

 The active task gets suspended and its context gets
pushed onto its stack.
 The preempted task gets resumed and its context
gets restored.

 Let’s have look at the save_task_ctx routine.

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Static Declarations
 PICOS18 requires you to statically declare
o Alarms
o Resources
o Tasks

 Let’s have a look.

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Tasks Implementation
 At most 16 events.
 The task state is encoded in the following variables:
o tsk_X_state_ID
 Bits 0-3: task identifier
 Bit 4: unused
 Bit 5-7: task state
o tsk_X_active_prio
 Bits 0-3: task priority
 Bit 5-7: activation counter

o Let’s look at some of the functions in pro_man.c

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Event Management
 StatusType SetEvent (TaskType TaskID,
EventMaskType Mask)
o Posts an event to another task. Causes a scheduling operation.
 StatusType ClearEvent (EventMaskType Mask)
o Clears the event, otherwise an infinite loop.
 StatusType GetEvent (TaskType TaskID,
EventMaskRefType Event)
o Receives the event value for a specific task.
 StatusType WaitEvent (EventMaskType Mask)
o Blocks the current task until the event occurs.

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Event Implementation
 At most 16 events.
 The event status is encoded in these two variables:
o EventMaskType event_X
 For each task 16 possible events.
o EventMaskType wait_X
 Each task can listen for 16 possible events.

 Let’s have a look at the code.

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Alarm Management
 StatusType GetAlarm (AlarmType AlarmID,
TickRefType Tick)
o Returns the number of ticks until the alarm goes off.
 StatusType SetRelAlarm (AlarmType AlarmID,
TickType increment, TickType cycle)
o Registers an alarm relative to the current kernel counter.
 StatusType SetAbsAlarm (AlarmType AlarmID,
TickType start, TickType cycle)
o Registers an alarm as absolute kernel counter tick value.
 StatusType CancelAlarm (AlarmType AlarmID)
o Deactivate an alarm.

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Alarm Implementation
 Each tick the alarm counters get incremented by
one.
 If the alarm value equals the counter value, then the
alarm will cause an event.

 Let’s look at the code.

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Sample Application

 Let’s look at the sample application that comes with

PICOS18.

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