Best Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) for Rapita Verification Suite

VxWorks®, a leading real-time operating platform in the industry, provides all the performance, reliability, safety and security capabilities you need for the most critical infrastructure's embedded computing systems. VxWorks is a preemptive, deterministic RTOS that prioritizes real-time embedded applications. It has low latency and minimaljitter. VxWorks has many security features that address the evolving security threats connected devices face at every stage, from boot-up to operation to data transfer to powered off. VxWorks has been certified to IEC 61508, ISO 26262, and DO-178C safety standards. VxWorks is built on an extensible, future-proof architecture that allows you to quickly respond to changing market demands, customer needs, technological advancements, and preserves your investment.

Developed in collaboration with top chip manufacturers over a span of 15 years, FreeRTOS is now downloaded approximately every 170 seconds and stands as a top-tier real-time operating system (RTOS) tailored for microcontrollers and small microprocessors. Available at no cost under the MIT open source license, FreeRTOS encompasses a kernel along with an expanding collection of IoT libraries that cater to various industries. Prioritizing reliability and user-friendliness, FreeRTOS is renowned for its proven durability, minimal footprint, and extensive device compatibility, making it the go-to standard for microcontroller and small microprocessor applications among leading global enterprises. With a wealth of pre-configured demos and IoT reference integrations readily available, users can easily set up their projects without any hassle. This streamlined process allows for rapid downloading, compiling, and quicker market entry. Furthermore, the ecosystem of partners offers a diverse range of options, including both community-driven contributions and professional support, ensuring that users have access to the resources they need for success. As technology continues to evolve, FreeRTOS remains committed to adapting and enhancing its offerings to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry.

LynxOS has been utilized in countless embedded devices, demonstrating dependable performance for over three decades in various safety and security-sensitive markets. This operating system offers a proven method for running applications within a Unix-like environment, where a unified kernel manages all resources and application services, making it particularly effective for hardware designs that were developed before the advent of virtualization. We aim to ensure our customers purchase only what is necessary for their specific needs. While real-time operating systems (RTOS) can deliver significant advantages, they are not essential for every embedded system configuration. For a more extensive overview of our resources related to RTOS, we invite you to explore our Embedded Systems Learning Center, which provides valuable information to assist you in making informed software purchasing choices as you design or enhance your system and evaluate potential real-time platform vendors. Moreover, this center is a great resource to help you understand the trade-offs and benefits associated with various embedded system approaches.

Deos™, developed by DDC-I, is a safety-critical real-time operating system (RTOS) that has been rigorously verified according to DO-178C/ED-12C Design Assurance Level A (DAL A) standards specifically for avionics applications. This RTOS supports ARINC 653 APEX and rate monotonic scheduling (RMS), and it is designed to meet the FACE Safety Base Profile requirements. Since its initial verification by Transport Canada in 1998, it has been a trusted solution in the aviation industry, with its certification allowing it to operate in tens of thousands of aircraft. Over the past two decades, Deos has adapted and evolved to incorporate new processors and features, demonstrating its flexibility and resilience. It has also undergone successful audits by a range of global certification authorities, including the FAA, ENAC, JAA, EASA, and CAAC, as well as by designated engineering representatives from various airframe and avionics suppliers, ensuring its continued compliance with industry standards. Its proven track record and ongoing development make it a pivotal component in modern aviation safety systems.

INTEGRITY employs hardware memory protection to effectively isolate and safeguard embedded applications. By utilizing secure partitions, it ensures that every task has the necessary resources to operate correctly while simultaneously shielding the operating system and user tasks from erroneous and harmful code, which encompasses threats like denial-of-service attacks, worms, and Trojan horses. To facilitate developers in expediting their product creation, Green Hills Software provides a comprehensive suite of middleware that has been integrated and validated for use with INTEGRITY, featuring options like FFS, FAT, NFS, and journaling file systems, alongside both IPv4 and IPv6 host and routing networking stacks, as well as a FIPS 140-2 certified Suite B embedded encryption library, among other tools. Notably, each middleware package has undergone pre-integration and rigorous testing to ensure it operates smoothly with INTEGRITY’s sophisticated RTOS features. Furthermore, Green Hills Software also presents tailored platforms for various industries, which encompass a fully integrated ecosystem that includes the INTEGRITY RTOS along with essential development tools, aiming to streamline the development process even further. This cohesive approach not only boosts efficiency but also enhances the overall security of embedded applications.

SAFERTOS® serves as a pre-certified safety Real Time Operating System (RTOS) specifically designed for embedded processors, offering outstanding performance alongside reliable dependability while consuming minimal resources. Customized for your unique processor/compiler combination, SAFERTOS® comes with complete source code and our comprehensive Design Assurance Pack (DAP). This DAP provides full visibility into the entire Design Life Cycle and showcases the exceptional quality of our RTOS solution. Leveraging our significant expertise in Safety Critical design, we have streamlined the certification of SAFERTOS® as part of a product, making the process straightforward and efficient. Developed with a focus on the safety sector, SAFERTOS® incorporates deterministic priority-based scheduling as a core Safety Requirement, ensuring that all efforts are directed towards maintaining predictable behavior throughout its operation. This commitment to reliability not only enhances system performance but also instills confidence in users who rely on such critical applications.

PikeOS is a separation kernel-based hypervisor that supports multiple partitions for many operating systems and applications. It allows you to create smart devices for the Internet-of-Things. PikeOS is the best choice for systems that require protection against Cyber-Security attack due to its separation kernel approach. It is widely used in millions of edge and IoT systems. However, it has also been deployed in critical communications infrastructures. PikeOS combines virtualization and real time with unique technologies that have never been seen before. It allows you to move multiple complex embedded circuit boards into one hardware. It is also able to handle new hardware concepts like Big-SoCs that have multiple heterogeneous cores. PikeOS can run on multiple architectures and support processors that have a memory management unit (MMU).