Virtual Hardware for Optimization

Designers often dedicate a second computer to real-time tasks to balance the flexibility of Windows with the deterministic requirements of embedded applications. Unfortunately, a second control computer adds substantial cost of goods, manufacturing complexity, and system-to-system coordination headaches.

Using virtual machine technology designed specifically for embedded real-time systems, TenAsys helps you eliminate redundant computer and communication hardware by condensing two hardware platforms into one, allowing a single hardware platform to to host an RTOS alongside Microsoft Windows, each with dedicated CPU, memory, and I/O resources. Hosting both Windows and an RTOS on a single hardware platform reduces system costs and minimizes development efforts. More info

Applications are partitioned into deterministic and non-deterministic parts. The non-deterministic parts execute on the Windows OS and the deterministic parts execute on the real-time virtual machine. These two parts work together as a single application, through a variety of shared objects (mailboxes, semaphores, mutexes, shared-memory, etc.). More info

Safety and reliability by design

The virtual machine approach to running an embedded RTOS alongside Windows is quite different from installing a real-time kernel in the form of a Windows device driver or subsystem. The device driver and subsystem models force real-time applications to operate within the Windows kernel, with unfettered access to the entire memory space, including the Windows kernel and other device drivers. This kernel-mode approach lacks address isolation and memory protection features. Real-time applications running on such a system can easily overwrite resources belonging to other processes in the system.

Programming errors are very difficult to debug in Windows kernel-mode drivers. Achieving reliable operation using this method often requires extensive testing, with many errors not detected until the system has been deployed in the field. Creating a complex, multi-threaded, real-time application to run inside the Windows kernel is contrary to the notion of building reliable, safe, and dependable real-time applications. More info

TenAsys' virtual machine approach to real-time Windows maintains a distinct boundary between the real-time OS and applications and the Windows OS and applications. The result is improved reliability and robustness, as well as simplified programming and debugging. The real-time virtual machine is distinct from Windows with separate resources and address isolation for protection between the real-time system and the Windows system.