RTEMS IN a Nutshell

The Open-Source RTOS

RTEMS* is a professional open-source real-time operating system with high flexibility that enables maximum performance with minimum resource requirements. It is available for a wide range of processors and provides all common interfaces and drivers for embedded requirements. Developed more than 25 years ago for military applications, RTEMS was enhanced in 2015 with an SMP version for multi-core systems on chip. RTEMS is now used in many commercial applications and is safety-certified for space.

* Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems

Minimal resource requirements

Safety-qualified multi-core real-time operating system that can run with 50kB of memory

Flexibility

BSPs for most 16-, 32- and 64-bit single-core and multi-core processors (including 12/24-core QorIQ T4240 and RISC-V architecture)

Advanced functions

POSIX and Classic API interface, OpenMP support, C11/C++11 threading and synchronization, Flattened Device Tree (FDT) support, and 10 Gbps Ethernet

Independence and sustainability

A long-standing user community provides years of maintenance and compatibility support. The platform provides freedom of choice and liberal licensing terms with no fees for users

Code quality

The SMP core code and selected functions are qualified for space applications

RTEMS is used here

Mars Rover

Autonomous transport vehicles

Motor racing

Banknote quality control

Professional audio

Overview of RTEMS Features

Everything You Need

Supported processor families

  • ARMv7-ARM (with SMP)
  • Xilinx Zynq
  • Altera/Intel Cyclone/Arria
  • NXP i.MX7
  • STMicroelectronics STM32
  • NXP LPC
  • Atmel/Microchip SAM E70/S70/V70/V71
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Texas Instruments TMS570
  • ARMv8-AR (with SMP)
  • Xilinx UltraScalae+
  • PowerPC 32 and 64 bit (with SMP)
  • NXP QorIQ u.a.
  • SPARC/LEON (with SMP)
  • Gaisler, GR712RC and GR740 (with SMP support)
  • RISC-V 32 and 64 bit (with SMP)
  • Xilinx MicroBlaze
  • Altera/Intel Nios II
  • Various older architectures

Features

  • OpenMP
  • LibBSD (contains network stack, USB, SD, WLAN, IPSec and other drivers)
  • DHCP
  • FTP
  • TFTP file system client
  • Telnet
  • PCIe
  • NVMe
  • PCI
  • Thread synchronization and communication

Supported programming languages

  • ADA
  • C (GCC) / C++ (GNU C++)
  • Erlang
  • Fortran
  • OpenMP 4.5
  • Python and MicroPython

File systems

  • IMFS
  • FAT
  • RFS
  • NFSv2
  • JFFS2 (NOR flashes)
  • YAFFS2 (NAND flashes)

Drivers

  • Termios (serial interfaces)
  • I2C (Linux user-space API compatible)
  • SPI (Linux user-space API compatible)
  • Network stacks (legacy, libbsd, lwIP)
  • USB stack (libbsd)
  • SD/MMC card stack (libbsd)
  • Framebuffer (Linux user-space API compatible, Qt)
Why Open-Source?

The advantages of open source

  • No license fees or restrictive terms of use
  • You can start immediately without license negotiations and without paperwork
  • 100% transparent source code, important for interfacing and debugging
  • Product support by the Community and (various) commercial vendors
  • No dependence on the business model of a licensor
  • No update obligation from the manufacturer

Maintaining many different systems for different applications is uneconomical to impossible, even for larger organizations. A uniform OS for as many applications as possible requires extensive scalability and flexibility. RTEMS can be used both on mini-controllers with a few 10kB of memory and on large multi-core systems (e.g. as an SMP system with 24 processor cores?).

Quick familiarization is best achieved with a system that is as simple as possible. But this also means that you quickly reach the limits of the system. And “upgrading” or even changing the system during ongoing development is time-consuming.

Starting with a large OS not only consumes more resources, but also takes much more effort to build experience. In addition, the effort required for safety certification increases exponentially for complex systems, so certification is nearly impossible for large software platforms.

The most effective approach is a broadly scalable system that allows for the configuration of both a simple and a very powerful and complex system based on a unified concept. RTEMS, for example, can already be run on a primitive 16-bit processor, but also on a 64-bit multicore “monster” with 10GB Ethernet, highly pluggable SSDs and many other features.

Is the investment in training worthwhile? Will the OS be available and maintained until the end of the product lifecycle? In the age of frequent company takeovers and sponsored open source initiatives, this is anything but a matter of course. RTEMS has more than 30 years of development history and a large number of professional users. It will continue to be maintained and developed as an independent system in the future.

Which RTOS is the BEST?

Making the right decision

There are a large number of real-time operating systems (RTOS). In addition to questions of technical requirements and costs, there are also important strategic aspects to consider.

Your benefits with our professional RTEMS support.

  • Time and costs can be planned precisely

  • Results are up to date

  • You can focus on your own development tasks

Our other services

Embedded Systems

Customized and robust hardware and software embedded system solutions based on various technologies.

Radar

Modern and compact technology for environment detection in “smart” embedded systems.

Production Services

Flexible, cost-effective EMS services with high precision, quality, and throughput.