Since its introduction in the late 1980s, Wind
River VxWorks real-time operating system
(RTOS) has evolved over 25 years to accom-
modate the dynamics of fast-moving embedded
markets. These include the introduction in
the 1980s of embedded 32-bit processors bring-
ing the possibility to use dedicated operating
systems (OSes) in devices; the move from ana-
log to digital for control devices; the Internet
explosion leading to greater connectivity in
the 1990s; and the rise of multi-core processors
over the past decade or so. And in the last few
years the advent of the Internet of Things
(IoT) has seen devices become smarter, with
distributed control and decision-making ability
now a reality.
Many if not the majority of the billions of in-
telligent devices in the IoT will be embedded
systems that run an OS – and many of these
devices will employ an RTOS. The confluence
of cloud computing, rapidly growing data vol-
umes, and increasingly connected devices in
the IoT, poses numerous challenges, but also a
myriad of new opportunities. The latest version
of Wind River RTOS – VxWorks 7 – addresses
this new era for applications that require hard
real-time system capabilities.
Devices that were previously standalone and
ran an RTOS – such as VxWorks –will now be
connected in the IoT and will be transformed
from intelligent devices into intelligent and
decision-making systems. In this new dynamic
customer will need to: bring connected devices
to market faster; differentiate products with
features and capabilities; address the security
risks inherent in IoT connectivity; build flexi-
bility into existing products to address emerging
opportunities, as well as ensuring products re-
main relevant and competitive with market
evolution; while also reducing system develop-
ment costs. To meet these challenges, customers
are looking for scalability, security and safety
in an RTOS, plus middleware that delivers
connectivity, manageability and virtualization
capabilities, enabling them to concentrate on
their application development.
Traditionally, an RTOS is a monolithic tool
and has always been delivered in a bundle of
software including the OS, middleware, board
support packages (BSPs), and tools. Any up-
dates to this package have been mostly for
bug and security fixes rather than the addition
of new features due to the prohibitive amount
of coding and testing required in implemen-
tation. However, the IoT landscape is evolving
significantly faster than the release cycles for
the traditional RTOS and consequently Wind
River has re-architected VxWorks by taking
a highly modular and future-proof approach
to the design and deployment of its latest
version.
Fundamental to VxWorks7 is the separation
of the core kernel from packages such as the
middleware, networking protocols and appli-
cations. Application lifecycles are now com-
pletely separate from the core OS enabling in-
dividual applications to be updated at any
time as required. Multiple versions of packages
can also coexist within the development tree,
enabling patches or new versions to be tried
out and rolled back if and when required. In
addition to this, VxWorks 7 also provides the
ability to use multiple compilers, enabling
high flexibility in the optimization of system
performance. Importantly, middleware or new
communications protocols and other packages
can be added or upgraded via the application
store model without changing the core kernel,
which is guaranteed by Wind River to stay
fundamentally stable for three years. These
packages can also include plug-ins for new mi-
croprocessor hardware architectures such as
those from ARM, Freescale (PPC and QorIQ)
or Intel, for example.
The modular architecture of VxWorks 7 will
enable embedded device manufacturers to dif-
ferentiate their products and maintain them
competitively over longer periods of time by
enriching them with new features and capabil-
ities – and all without having to change the
system core – with the evolution of standards
and market requirements. In addition, VxWorks
Safe, secure, scalable RTOS
for the Internet of Things
I
NTERNET
-
OF
-T
HINGS
By Prashant Dubal,
Wind River
The modern next-generation
RTOS needs to be modular,
configurable and expandable to
meet the dynamic demands of
the IoT among other applications.
VxWorks 7 can not only reinforce
customer applications in
traditional RTOS markets with
faster safety or security
certification, but can also allow
customers to extend their reach
into emerging applications
enabled by the IoT.
Figure 1. Scaling functionality
against applications in IoT
platforms
June 2014
22
