Seamless RTOS Transition: Migrating to VxWorks
August 30, 2024
Story
QNX and VxWorks are prominent real-time operating system choices in the embedded systems arena, each offering distinct advantages and a loyal customer base. As the field of embedded systems development undergoes change, both are evolving to meet new challenges.
The Criticality of Time-to-Market
Modern embedded systems teams are increasingly embracing IT-inspired methodologies like “shift-left,” which incorporates software testing earlier in the development process and reduces reliance on hard-to-source hardware.
DevSecOps is also becoming more prevalent, emphasizing security, team collaboration, and efficiency. Additionally, the adoption of OCI-compliant containers and orchestration tools helps to standardize processes, minimize errors, and accelerate product iterations.
The RTOS for these teams needs to support these capabilities through cloud-based technologies. VxWorks, with AWS Graviton support, Wind River Studio Developer, and OCI-compliant containers and Kubernetes, is designed to meet these demands.
High-Performance Capabilities: A Growing Need
AI/ML integration and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) ensure that mission-critical data is prioritized over lower-priority data on Ethernet networks. VxWorks supports TSN natively, avoiding the need for third-party solutions and ensuring development teams are prepared for its widespread adoption.
Scalability as a Standard Practice
With advancements in processor technology, including multi-core processors and new architectures, RTOS vendors must expand their supported board lists. The ability to scale for mixed-criticality use cases, managing both safety-critical and non-safety-critical functions, is also becoming essential. Wind River Helix Virtualization Platform allows VxWorks and other guest operating systems to meet these mixed-criticality requirements.
Safety and Security
The RTOS’s engineering lifecycle must be secure by design, adhering to a secure development lifecycle as outlined by NIST SP800-218. Ongoing vulnerability tracking and functional safety certifications are vital for industries such as aerospace, automotive, and medical. VxWorks prioritizes these safety and security considerations in every release.
Expanding Beyond Real-Time
Linux is increasingly being used in embedded systems for non-real-time applications. A unified solution that combines industry-leading RTOS and Linux offerings is becoming more attractive, offering potential cost and time savings.
Revisiting Old Debates
It’s important to reevaluate certain long-standing debates and phrases in a modern context to prevent them from unduly influencing RTOS migration decisions.
Determinism: A Fundamental Requirement
In real-time embedded systems, determinism—predictable and repeatable response times—is a fundamental necessity. While essential, it is no longer a topic of debate in the RTOS world.
RTOS Architecture: A Non-Issue
The debate between microkernel and monolithic architectures has become largely irrelevant. What matters most are the system specifications, deployment, and application software design, rather than the architecture of the RTOS.
A New Opportunity: Time to Migrate
The webinar, “Seamless RTOS Transition: Migrating to VxWorks,” discusses the technical considerations of migration and provides insights for a successful transition. Whether you’re an engineer, project manager, or decision-maker, this webinar will help you understand the benefits and best practices for migrating to VxWorks.
