| Special Focus: Real-Time with Windows Embedded |
Jul. 09, 2002
In this feature, you will find information on the real-time capabilities delivered in Windows CE .NET as well as some of the valuable third-party extensions available for Windows XP Embedded.
Microsoft recognizes the importance of time-critical responses in high-performance embedded applications; the Microsoft Windows Embedded operating systems, Windows CE .NET and Windows XP Embedded, meet or exceed the real-time requirements for most embedded devices.
These products provide a platform for the best in real-time embedded devices:
- Dedicated Systems Tests Windows CE .NET on Its Real-Time Capabilities:
In a recent technical report from Dedicated Systems, Windows CE .NET exhibited true real-time behavior during most of the tests. Data points from the article include -- The results in Table 5.2 2 (ONE BILLION Interrupts) shows that when interrupts were spread 11µs apart, the system did not lose a single interrupt.
-- Windows CE .NET exhibited real-time behavior during all of the tests. None of the stress tests exposed any problems concerning either robustness or reliability.
-- The system is robust. It behaved well during stress tests and no memory leaks were found. Windows CE .NET uses virtual memory protection to protect itself against faulty applications.
-- Windows CE has a modular architecture and is highly scalable. The virtual memory and privilege-level protection make the system robust.
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(Free registration required . . . )
- Diagnosing Deadlock: Stall Conditions Within Windows CE .NET
Microsoft Windows CE .NET provides a rich set of tools and development environments for creating embedded applications. We start by examining the Kernel Tracker Tool to understand its power. Often an embedded developer faces situations in which external tools are not able to
provide assistance because the particular operating system (OS) resources on which they depend are not available. To diagnose these deadlock or stall situations where the tools have been rendered useless, we develop a simple Priority Runner application to identify the lowest
schedulable thread priority in the system.
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- Hard Real Time With Venturcom RTX on Microsoft Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded
For a variety of business and technical reasons, Microsoft Windows NT,Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows XP Embedded operating systems are increasingly being considered as a platform for deployment of real-time systems. In order to meet the stringent latency requirements of hard real-time systems, it is necessary to augment the capabilities of Windows XP. This white paper examines Venturcom's RTX, which provides a real-time subsystem running with Windows XP. It implements deterministic scheduling of real-time threads, inter-process communication mechanisms between the real-time environment and the native Windows XP environment,and other extensions to Windows XP that are often found in specialized real-time operating systems. We discuss how the components of RTX provide these features, explore current results and experiences, and
point out possible future directions for enhancement.
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- Benchmarking Real-Time Determinism in Windows CE
The real-time or deterministic performance of Microsoft Windows CE has been extensively investigated for applications in industrial control systems. With the release of Windows CE .NET, engineers are asking if
the new operating system (OS) is more or less agile than its widely used predecessors, Windows CE versions 2.12 and 3.0. This white paper first establishes the real-time performance of Windows CE 3.0 on the "industry standard" StrongARM platform, and then compares it in detail to Windows CE. NET, and its predecessor, Windows CE 2.12. Real-time performance was tested by using a standard function generator to create a hardware interrupt on the device. The device then starts an IST which immediately
sets a GPIO line high and sets a Windows event. Further, an application thread receives that event and sets another GPIO line high. We tested and are reporting several timing differentials with reference to the
generated hardware interrupt and the time at which the output GPIO lines actually went high. These are 'hard tests' for 'hard real time'. There are no measurements made 'internal' to the hardware and software platform, and there are no semantic games on the nature of hard and soft real time. The results, measured with high speed, high precision instruments, were surprising, suggesting that specifications for Windows CE real time performance were too conservative. As an RTOS, Windows CE performs far better then generally discussed.
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- Windows Embedded Real-Time Seminar
This Windows Embedded real-time seminar was created by Nat Frampton, one of Microsoft's eMVPs and President of Real Time Development Corporation,for the Windows Embedded Developers Conference in Europe. Using Platform
Builder 4.0 and an SH4-based reference board, Jason Browne, a Windows CE .NET program manager, takes a student through the steps of registering an IST to handle an interrupt, and uses an application written in
eMbedded Visual C++ to demonstrate the real-time behavior of the Windows CE .NET operating system, using the Remote Kernel Tracker to demonstrate ISR/IST latencies.
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(Requires Microsoft's Media Player for viewing . . . )
- Real-Time Expert Opinion With Embedded MVP Nat Frampton of Real Time Development Corporation
Find out how an Embedded MVP defines 'hard' real-time and hear how Windows CE .NET and Windows XP Embedded rate. You'll find these answers and more in Nat's 'Expert Opinion' section in the Windows Embedded Community.
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- Real-Time Expert Opinion With Embedded MVP John O'Keefe of Venturcom
Here's an alternative Expert Opinion based on similar questions to those posed to Nat Frampton (above). You'll find these answers and more in John's 'Expert Opinion' section in the Windows Embedded Community.
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(Click here for further information)
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