The Open Source Automation Development Lab (OSADL) announced the release of the “Latest Stable” Linux mainline real-time kernel, based on Linux 2.6.31. The “PREEMPT RT”-based release will be demonstrated on Mar. 2-4 at Embedded World 2010 in Nuremberg, Germany, which offers a number of sessions on Linux and Android development.

The 2.6.31.12-rt21 real-time Linux kernel, which is based on the recent Linux 2.6.31 release, offers worst-case latency that is "identical to or better than results obtained on a 2.6.29.4-rt24 kernel," says OSADL. The 2.6.29.4-rt17 "latest stable" version released in June, which is similar to the later 2.6.29.4-rt24 release, was said to have achieved latency as low as 39 microseconds. OSADL's new 2.6.31.12-rt21 benchmarks show latency ranging from a mere 29 microseconds on a 2.4GHz 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo, to 69 microseconds on an AMD Athlon 32-bit XP 2000+.

The PREEMPT_RT patches provide guarantees for hard timing deadlines, as required by many mission-critical applications in industries like telecom, military, healthcare, music recording, and financial trading. Sometimes referred to as the "RT Preempt" patch, PREEMPT_RT was originally developed by Ingo Molnar and by Thomas Gleixner, who continues to lead the development team. It represents the upstream version of the real-time patches integrated by MontaVista, Red Hat, Novell, and others into the "real-time" versions of their commercial Linux offerings.

In recent years, the real-time Linux "PREEMPT RT" development work has been a major thrust at OSADL, an industry group that aims to standardize and promote Linux support for automation technologies. The other major real-time Linux effort, backed primarily by German embedded pioneer Denx, is based on the Xenomai extensions. The two groups have been somewhat bitter rivals in the Euro-centric real-time Linux community, but efforts are being made to help bridge the divide between the two, somewhat compatible technologies.

Embedded World 2010

OSADL will demonstrate its latest real-time kernel at Embedded World 2010, which is scheduled for Mar. 2-4 in Nuremberg (Nurnberg). The event will overlap with the monster CeBIT technology show, which will be held in Hanover, Germany, on Mar. 2-6.

Billed as "the world's biggest event around Embedded Technologies," Embedded World 2010 combines 19 sessions and 14 half-day and whole-day workshops and tutorials. For the keynote on Mar. 2, Reinhold Achatz of Siemens will discuss, "Optimizing the embedded systems development process." Other speakers are said to include David Kalinsky, Bruce Powel-Douglass, Nicholas McGuire, and Christof Paar.

Linux-specific sessions included Embedded Linux I and II sessions, as well as an Android session. Linux-focused classes, meanwhile, include an introduction to RT Linux and PREEMPT RT, as well as "Linux for safety-related systems."

Other sessions cover topics including safety critical systems, high availability systems, cryptography and embedded security, multi-core processing, wireless technology, energy management, and SoC development. In addition, there will be sessions on M2M communication, healthcare devices, and developing with Freescale processors, say the organizers.

Embedded World will host a free ARTEMIS-Session, which is said to be open to the general public. The session will cover the latest projects of the ARTEMIS Initiative (European Initiative "Advanced Research & Technology for Embedded Intelligence and Systems").

Availability

The OSADL announcement of 2.6.31.12-rt21 may be found here. More information (including registration details) for Embedded World 2010, which will be held Mar. 2-4 in Nuremberg, Germany, may be found here. OSADL may be found at the event in hall 11, booth 308 and 408.

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