Kuka notes that while Windows XP has powerful graphics capability and many available applications, the lack of real-time performance is often a disadvantage in industrial control or other real-time environments. The traditional solution to this problem is to use two computers -- one running XP to serve as the human-machine interface and another running a real-time operating system (RTOS) to interface with the physical world. The two machines might communicate through TCP/IP, as shown below.
Traditional dual-computer solutionIn contrast, CEWin allows Windows CE to run concurrently with Windows XP on the same CPU. Real-time processes are handled deterministically by Windows CE while non real-time activity is managed by Windows XP. The two operating systems still communiate through TCP/IP, but via shared memory regions rather than Ethernet.
CEWin solutionKuka says that eliminating the second computer reduces hardware cost and increases reliability.
CEWin is similar to the approach taken by TenAsys with
INtime and VenturCom with
RTX, as well as by several real-time extensions of Linux, except that in the case of CEWin the required real-time component is supplied by Windows CE. Therefore, instead of the real-time portion of the application requiring use of a unique RTOS API, using Windows CE as the RTOS means that all development can be done with the familiar Windows APIs in the familiar Windows environment, according to Kuka.
Kuka has a similar product called VxWin that allows VxWorks to run concurrently with Windows XP.
CEWin is available in two versions. CEWin PE (Professional Edition) supports all Windows CE features. CEWin LE (Light Edition) is an alternative, low-cost version with some limitations. The free evaluation version is available
here.
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