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Real Time Operating Systems

Research · September 2024

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12502.87362/1

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 Real Time Operating Systems

Arjun S [21MID0088]
School Of Computer Science and Engineering
VIT, Vellore

1. Introduction source solutions tailored to diverse

requirements. Popular of which include
The Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) VxWorks, QNX, RTOS-32, ThreadX, Micrium
stands as a specialized operating system (uC/OS), INTEGRITY, Nucleus RTOS,
tailored for real-time computing, particularly LynxOS, Green Hills INTEGRITY, and
when handling critical tasks. A real-time system PikeOS on the commercial side and FreeRTOS,
is characterized by a requirement for both RTEMS, Zephyr, Apache Mynewt, NuttX,
logical correctness in the generation of outputs ChibiOS/RT, Contiki, eCos, Mbed OS, RIOT,
and stringent adherence to predetermined time and RTLinux in the free category.
constraints [1]. The success of real-time systems
hinges on the timely execution of operations, This research paper endeavors to shed light on
and any deviation from these constraints can Real-Time Operating Systems, presenting an
result in consequences, the severity of which overview of their current state of development,
depends on the context. Real-time systems are inherent limitations, prominent vendors, and
categorized as hard, firm, or soft, reflecting the scope they encompass. Furthermore, it
their degree of adherence to these temporal delves into a critical aspect of RTOS
requirements. functionality, namely, the influence of Cosmic-
Ray Bit Shift on the reliability, performance,
In hard real-time systems, any failure to meet and various other aspects of these real-time
specified response-time constraints results in operating systems.
system failure. Firm real-time systems operate
with hard deadlines as well but allow for a
minimal probability of missing a deadline 2. Standards and Certifications
under specific conditions. Soft real-time
systems are characterized by a more lenient 1) DO-178C Software Considerations in
approach, where the failure to meet response Airborne Systems and Equipment
time constraints degrades system performance Certification: This document serves as the
but does not lead to its catastrophic failure [2]. primary reference for certification authorities
like the FAA (Federal Aviation
The significance of RTOS transcends a Administration), EASA (European Union
multitude of domains where accuracy and Aviation Safety Agency), and Transport
reliability are paramount. Notably, aircraft Canada when approving software-based
systems are a prime exemplar where the aerospace systems for commercial use.
dependability of RTOS is of critical
importance. Moreover, its applications extend 2) ISO 26262 (Functional Safety for Road
to various sectors, encompassing medical Vehicles): ISO 26262 is an international
equipment, vending machines, self-driving standard that addresses the functional safety of
vehicles, airbag deployment mechanisms, electrical and electronic systems in road
missile guidance systems, as well as scientific vehicles. When it comes to automotive
computing equipment such as particle applications, real-time operating systems
accelerators and nuclear power plants. (RTOS) must adhere to this standard to ensure
the safety of vehicle systems.
The RTOS landscape is rich with a plethora of
vendors, both offering commercial and open-
3) AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics C) Security and Safety:
and Astronautics) Standards: AIAA publishes The primary use case of RTOS is critical
various standards related to aerospace systems where failures can lead to catastrophic
engineering and space technology. These consequences. To prevent such events, RTOS
standards encompass topics such as spacecraft are highly resilient to faults and offer
design, testing, and safety. additional security and safety features. For
instance, consider "Deadlock," a situation in
4) ECSS (European Cooperation for Space which two or more processes or threads in a
Standardization): ECSS standards encompass computer system are unable to proceed because
various aspects of space missions, including they are each waiting for the other to release a
software engineering. They offer guidelines for resource necessary for continued execution. In
the development of software for space a deadlock, processes become effectively stuck
applications, including those employing RTOS. and cannot make progress. Commodity
Operating Systems like Ubuntu or Windows do
5) NASA-STD-8719.13 (Software Safety not handle deadlocks as they are rare and are
Standard): NASA has established specific typically resolved after a restart. However, in
standards for software safety, which are an RTOS, deadlocks are properly prevented,
applicable to software used in space missions, detected, and removed to avoid any
including those utilizing RTOS. malfunctioning during critical operations, such
as aircraft navigation system processing.

3. Why Commodity OS are Not Real-Time? D) Priority-Based Scheduling:

Priority scheduling means that actions
The following are the key distinctions between assigned a lower priority are executed after
a commodity OS and a Real-Time OS: those assigned a higher priority. This ensures
that an RTOS always executes the most
A) Temporal Deterministic Behavior: important tasks first.
Tasks executed in an RTOS will consistently
yield the same behavior; that is, the same input E) Decreased Footprint:
will correspond to the same output. This RTOS typically have a significantly smaller
predictability is crucial in RTOS to meet footprint compared to typical commodity OSs.
specific timing requirements and ensure reliable For example, VxWorks is approximately
and consistent behavior. 20,000 times lighter than Windows. This is
often because RTOSs do not include a
B) High Performance: Graphical User Interface.
Real-time systems are known for their speed
and high responsiveness. They often execute
actions within a small fraction of the time 4. Vendors
required by a commodity or general OS. Some popular RTOS vendors and their
platform supported are discussed in Table 1
 Table 1

5. Case Study [6] In the 2022 BMW iX All-Electric Sports

Activity Vehicle, Green Hills Software
Technologies utilized the INTEGRITY real-
NASA Mars Curiosity Rover, 2012 time operating system. This trusted and highly
performant run-time foundation is essential for
several critical functions in the vehicle. These
functions include the digital instrument cluster,
heads-up display (HUD), an intelligent camera-
based driver assistance system, the surround
view, parking assistant system, and other
critical embedded functions in this modern
software-defined vehicle.

Medical Infusion Pumps

The NASA Mars Curiosity Rover, launched in

2012, relies on Wind River's industry-leading
real-time operating system (RTOS), VxWorks.
VxWorks played a pivotal role in Curiosity's
complex landing sequence known as EDL
(entry, descent, and landing). This phase is
often described as "seven minutes of terror" due
to the precision required for the spacecraft to
survive the landing. During its mission on
Mars, Curiosity depends on VxWorks to
execute critical tasks, including ground
operations control, data collection, and Infusion Pumps are crucial medical devices that
relaying communication between Mars and deliver the required amount of medication into
Earth. the patient's body. RTOS is used to deliver
these drugs to the patient's body, guaranteeing
2022 BMW iX All-Electric Sports Activity precise control, reliability, and patient safety.
Vehicle
Medtronic, an American-based healthcare
company, manufactures a wide range of
healthcare equipment. One such product is the
Cardiac Monitor, designed to monitor real-
time heart rate and deliver drugs when the
patient's heart rate falls or rises. To achieve this
flawlessly, the company utilizes RTOS. Any
minute delay in drug delivery can compromise
the patient's life.guarantee precise control,
reliability, and patient safety.
6. Cosmic-Ray Bit Flips [4]

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles

originating from outer space. When these
particles enter Earth's atmosphere, they
undergo a process known as the "Cosmic-Ray
Cascade" (See Fig 1). This process involves a
gradual interaction with the molecules that
make up our atmosphere, causing the particles
to lose energy. As a result, muons, alpha
particles, and protons are left in the lower
atmosphere.
Fig 2
These particles can impact electronics, The number of Bit-flips is directly proportional to the amount of
radiation that a computer chip is exposed [5]
particularly transistors responsible for storing
bits as the presence or absence of electrons in
memory cells. When such an event occurs, the One notable impact of such occurrences was
memory state is altered, leading to a bit-flip, observed during the Belgium Election in 2003.
changing from 0 to 1 or from 1 to 0. Testing for computer-based voting was
conducted, alongside a backup system based on
a magnetic disk. During the vote counting
process, one candidate, Maria Vindevoghel,
received over 4096 votes. Rigorous
examination of the software for bugs and
testing led to the logical conclusion that a
cosmic-ray bit flip in the transistor responsible
for storing her vote in memory was the cause
[5].

7. Challenges and Future Works

Real-time operating systems of the future will

be large, complex, and distributed. These
systems will impose dynamic requirements on
the system, making them inherently expensive
to design and develop due to the intensive
testing required. Even minor changes will
necessitate comprehensive product testing to
ensure complete confidence in meeting the
timing constraints in place.

Fig 1 Tasks within a real-time system can be

Illustration depicting how a cosmic ray generates an extensive air categorized into three types based on their
shower upon colliding with Earth's atmosphere. The primary cosmic criticality: Critical, Essential, and Support
ray interacts with molecules in the atmosphere, releasing a cascade of
subatomic particles. These secondary particles then collide with other Tasks. Critical tasks come with strict timing
particles and air molecules, creating even more secondary particles. It is constraints and can result in catastrophes if not
these secondary particles that can be detected on the ground [3].
completed within the given time. Essential and
Memory flips of this kind are particularly Support tasks, on the other hand, do not have
critical for the operation of spacecraft and stringent time constraints.
commercial airplanes, as the levels of such
radiation increase with altitude above sea level. [7] The following are some challenges and design
Studies conducted by IBM in the 1990s suggest issues:
that computers typically encounter
approximately one cosmic-ray-induced error A) Tasks may have dynamic requirements,
per 256 megabytes of RAM per month. meaning that tasks may transition between
critical, essential, and support priorities during
execution. Modern general-purpose priority- automotive applications, to ensure their
based operating systems are typically designed reliability and safety.
to assume task priority as a static attribute.
One intriguing challenge faced by real-time
B) While absolute predictability can never be systems is the impact of cosmic-ray bit flips on
completely achieved, real-time systems demand their operation. These high-energy particles
a high degree of predictability. One possible from space can alter the memory state,
solution is worst-case analysis, which allows us potentially leading to errors in critical systems.
to examine the system's behavior at its worst. The case study of a cosmic-ray-induced error
Additionally, it's safer to guarantee less than during the Belgium Election in 2003
the system's actual capabilities, which enhances underscores the real-world significance of this
the system's durability. issue.

C) Single-processor systems can never be truly Looking ahead, the future of RTOS will
reliable for critical applications. Therefore, involve larger, more complex, and distributed
critical systems are often compelled to use systems with dynamic requirements. Meeting
multiple hardware components as either cold or these evolving demands will require the
hot standbys. For instance, spacecraft systems development of new technologies to address
typically employ multiple processors to issues like dynamic task prioritization,
perform the same task. If one processor predictability, and the reliability of multi-
experiences a soft error, the others can step in processor systems. As artificial intelligence
to maintain system integrity. becomes more integrated into real-time
systems, new methodologies will need to be
D) Real-time artificial intelligence systems are developed to ensure their predictability and
impractical with current systems. These systems safety.
are inherently unpredictable and, as a result,
require the development of new methodologies. In this ever-evolving landscape, the role of
RTOS in ensuring the reliability and
The technologies of today's real-time operating performance of critical systems remains
systems may not be sufficient to meet the indispensable. As technology advances, so too
scalability demands of tomorrow's systems. The must the capabilities and robustness of real-
next generation of real-time operating systems time operating systems to meet the growing
will necessitate the development of new demands of our interconnected and time-
technologies to address these evolving sensitive world.
requirements.

9. Keywords
8. Conclusion
 Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)
In conclusion, Real-Time Operating Systems  Time constraints
(RTOS) play a critical role in ensuring the  Aerospace systems
reliability and predictability of systems where  Soft real-time systems
meeting stringent time constraints is  Critical tasks
paramount. These systems find application in a
 Reliability
wide range of domains, from aerospace and
automotive industries to medical equipment  VxWorks
and scientific research. They are designed to  FreeRTOS
offer temporal determinism, high performance,  DO-178C
security, and safety features, priority-based  Software safety
scheduling, and a compact footprint, making  Cosmic-ray bit flip
them distinct from commodity operating  Transistors
systems.  Worst-case analysis
 Scalability
Furthermore, RTOS must adhere to specific  Artificial intelligence
standards and certifications, such as DO-178C
 Embedded systems
for aerospace systems and ISO 26262 for
 Commercial applications
  Deterministic behavior
 System performance [4] Sivo, L. L., et al. "Cosmic ray-induced soft
 Temporal requirements errors in static MOS memory cells." IEEE
Transactions on Nuclear Science 26.6 (1979):
10. References 5041-5047.

[1] P.A. Laplante, Real-Time Systems Design [5] "The Universe is Hostile to Computers".
and Analysis: An Engineer’s Handbook, Veritasium.
Second edition, IEEE Press, 1997.
[6] "Case Study: Evolution of RTOS", TCET
[2] Baskiyar, Sanjeev, and Natarajan Department of Electronics Engineering,
Meghanathan. "A Survey of Contemporary University of Mumbai
Real-time Operating Systems." Informatica
(03505596) 29.2 (2005). [7] Tom Hand. 1991. Challenges for future real-
time operating systems. In Proceedings of the
[3] Author: Theturnipmaster Source: second and third annual workshops on Forth
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ (FORTH '90 and '91). Association for
File:ParticleCascade.svg Creative Commons Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA,
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