NASA has released version 2.0 of a software library meant to allow real-time applications to be compiled on multiple real-time and desktop OSes. Operating System Abstraction Layer (OSAL) provides generic interfaces for real-time services, filesystems, port I/O, and memory interfaces, and supports Linux, Windows/Cygwin, VxWorks, RTEMS, and Mac OS X.

OSAL was developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, according to maintainer Alan P. Cudmore. Version one was used on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, where it enabled portable flight software to be prototyped on Linux and Mac desktops, then re-compiled to run on RTEMS on RH5208 Coldfire, or on VxWorks running on radiation-hardened PowerPC-based RAD750 SBCs (single-board computers).

New features in version 2.0 of OSAL include testing and updating of the Linux version to run on Cygwin, as well as new and improved APIs, documentation, sample applications and testing software, and a makefile system. Cudmore says support for new operating systems, processor architectures, and target boards can be added to OSAL.

OSAL appears similar in concept to commercial “OS Abstractor” software from MapuSoft, which last summer partnered with TimeSys.

Availability

OSAL 2.0 is available under NASA's NASA open source software agreement (NOSA) version 1.3, which is deemed an open source license by the OSI. It includes an OS abstraction library, a hardware abstraction library, and implementations for:

• Motorola MCP750 Power PC running the RTEMS and VxWorks RTOSes
• Motorola MCF5307C3 Coldfire Evaluation board running the RTEMS RTOS
• A standard Intel Pentium PC running Linux (or Cygwin)
• A Power PC Macintosh running Mac OS X (10.3 or better)
• A Sharp Zaurus PDA running Linux

Details about OSAL and other NASA open source software can be found here.

 
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