EOS: an object-oriented operating system for embedded real-time applications

ABSTRACT

Increases in hardware availability and capability have caused microprocessor based real-time embedded systems to become increasingly pervasive [8,9]. With this popularity, however, has come an increase in the size and complexity of embedded applications. Dealing with this complexity typically involves runtime support for interprocess communication and synchronization, memory sharing, device management [9], and, less typically, for error recovery and debugging [4,8]. Most real-time embedded operating systems provide this support through an interface consisting of a complex collection of subroutine calls. Basing this interface on an object-oriented model provides encapsulation and extensibility features to the application programmer. Although some work has been done using this approach, those systems generally use proprietary languages (e.g. ARTS) and are too large to be used in embedded systems [9]. This paper describes a high level object-oriented design for a real-time embedded operating system, called EOS, and for the EOS application program interface. EOS is intended to be compact enough to be used in embedded systems, yet provide standard capabilities such as message handling, memory sharing, device management, and direct support for error tracking and recovery.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.7 COMPUTERS IN OTHER SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Real time

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.2 Storage Management
      D.4.4 Communications Management
      D.4.7 Organization and Design
          Subjects: Real-time systems and embedded systems

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Performance