Comparison of Contemporary Real Time Operating Systems

Abstract: With the advancement in embedded area, importance of real time operating system (RTOS) has been increased to greater extent. Now days for every embedded application low latency, efficient memory utilization and effective scheduling techniques are the basic requirements. Thus in this paper we have attempted to compare some of the real time operating systems. The systems (viz. VxWorks, QNX, Ecos, RTLinux, Windows CE and FreeRTOS) have been selected according to the highest user base criterion. We enlist the peculiar features of the systems with respect to the parameters like scheduling policies, licensing, memory management techniques, etc. and further, compare the selected systems over these parameters. Our effort to formulate the often confused, complex and contradictory pieces of information on contemporary RTOSs into simple, analytical organized structure will provide decisive insights to the reader on the selection process of an RTOS as per his requirements.

Keywords: RTOS, VxWorks, QNX, eCOS, RTLinux,Windows CE, FreeRTOS