Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)

An RTOS is able to reliably execute programs with specific timing requiremen

ts, which is important for many science
and engineering projects. The key component needed to build a real-time system i
s a special RTOS; other hardware and
software pieces that make up an entire real-time system are discussed in the nex
t section.
Precise timing
For many engineers and scientists, running a measurement or control program
on a standard PCwith a general-purpose
OSinstalled (such as Windows) is unacceptable. At any time, the OS might delay ex
ecution of a user program for many
reasons: running a virus scan, updating graphics, performing system background t
asks, and so on. For programs
that need to run at a certain rate without interruption (for example, a cruise c
ontrol system), this delay can cause
system failure.
Note that this behavior is by design general-purpose OSs are optimized to run
many processes and applications at
the same time and provide other features like rich user interface graphics. In c
ontrast, real-time OSs are designed to
run a single program with precise timing. Specifically, real-time OSs help you i
mplement the following:
# Perform tasks within a guaranteed worst-case timeframe
# Carefully prioritize different sections of your program
# Run loops with nearly the same timing on each iteration (typically within
microseconds)
# Detect if a loop missed its timing goal