Friday, October 21, 2011

Real-Time Operating Systems

Another type of operating system is the real-time system. These systems are characterized by having time as a key parameter. For example, in industrial process control systems, real-time computers have to collect data about the production process and use it to control machines in the factory. Often there are hard deadlines that must be met. For example, if a car is moving down an assembly line, certain actions must take place at certain instants of time, if a welding robot welds too early or too late, the car will be ruined. If the action absolutely must occur at a certain moment (or within a certain range), we have a hard real-time system.

Another kind of real-time system is a soft real-time system, in which missing an occasional deadline is acceptable. Digital audio or multimedia systems fall in this category. VxWorks and QNX are well-known real-time operating systems

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