Embedding Linux in a carrier-grade application, like a Microwave Point-to-Point Radio Link, has many interesting concerns. These concerns range from technical issues, cost calculation issues to even political or licensing issues. However, when compared to an existing proprietry-only product which binds a company to long development cycles, it has many relatively obvious advantages. (more…)

This paper presents the experimental study of the performance of Real-Time Linux based on the x86 architecture. Holding the hardware constant and using different measurement methodologies, we measured a list of performance (ten kinds of test), including the overheads incurred during operating systems context switching test, conditional variable test, rt-fifo read/write test, mbuff read/write test, etc. (more…)

This paper describes an implementation of the Linux kernel and applications on a unique commercial-off-the-shelf component based space borne computer system. This system, called the parallel processing unit has been developed for the X-Sat micro-satellite mission. Interfaces using the kernel device driver model are utilised to allow seamless application interaction with the system hub. (more…)

Scheduling theory has shown an impressive evolution due to the intensive research done in this area. As a result, a lot of scheduling algorithms has been proposed to support a large amount of applications. RTLinux uses a fixed-priority scheduler and although fixed-priority scheduling is suited for a large number of real-time applications, it has some drawbacks. (more…)

This work-in-progress report describes a distributed hybrid architecture that imparts autonomous intelligence capabilities of “perception-decision-action” to an ALV (Autonomous Landing Vehicle) control unit. The system is shown to degenerate to a remote thread execution mechanism of a real-time operating Linux system where the kernel instantiation is control strategy dependent. (more…)

There has been increasing interest in the real-time community for Quality of Service (QoS) based systems, such as multimedia and telecommunication systems. In this paper, we deal with scheduling components integrating new QoS functionalities under Linux/RTAI (Real-Time Application Interface) [Rta04]. (more…)

Like The Little Engine That Could, tiny Oslo-based Trolltech today unveiled a Linux-based challenge to Symbian's and Microsoft's domination of the rapidly… (more…)

Deploying on the hardware

The embedded system we just built on virtual hardware was a lot like using real hardware. We still had to partition and format our storage device. The process of installing the operating system and the bootloader was the same. Now it's time to expand on what we learned and use Linux to build an embedded system using real hardware. (more…)

Conclusion

Building embedded Linux systems on the x86 PC platform doesn't have to be painful especially when you can use off the shelf, small form-factor PC hardware and simple step by step instructions. We found VMware to be a great teaching aid and an invaluable tool when experimenting with embedded Linux development. (more…)

What is LabVIEW?

LabVIEW, a graphical, data-flow driven programming language, created by National Instruments and first shipped in 1986, opened the world of computer programming to non-programming scientists and engineers by enabling them to SEE how to program. LabVIEW has functional icons that are connected together using a wiring tool – just like prototyping a circuit on a test bench. (more…)

Why use a desktop OS to build an embedded system?

An embedded computer system is one where the computer (and of course its software) is hidden away inside of an overall instrument or system. The problem with embedded computer systems is that they're generally not as easy to develop software for as a desktop system. (more…)

Getting to know VMware

To keep you from having to buy specific hardware to run the demonstration system and to keep us from the impossible task of having to cover every possible combination of hardware we are using VMware Workstation. (more…)

Six steps to Building an Embedded Linux System

The first phase of the installation process is to create a new virtual machine running under the VMware Workstation environment and start it up. Follow VMware's easy installation instructions and create a virtual machine with 32 MB of hard drive space. (more…)

Getting started

For an LSP supported target, installation and configuration are straightforward, if somewhat tedious. The Installation and Setup Guide is organized fairly well, at least if you are using one of the supported SBCs. (more…)

Cross-development

So unless you are willing to go to considerable trouble, realistic software development under Hard Hat consists of using the cross-development model from beginning to end. This process is fairly well documented for supported SBCs, though it involves quite a few steps. (more…)