A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system that runs multi-threaded applications and can meet real-time deadlines. See this article to read more about them: https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/videos/shawn-hymel/getting-started-with-stm32-and-nucleo-part-3-how-to-run-multiple-threads-with-cmsis-rtos-interface
An RTOS is often a lightweight operating system (OS) designed to run on microcontrollers. Much like general purpose operating systems, they offer a scheduler to run multiple threads or tasks, resource management (such as file I/O), and device drivers. An RTOS is necessary when embedded engineers need to run several threads at the same time on a processor.
The “real-time” part of an RTOS means that such software can meet real-time deadlines. Note that this does not mean “fast,” but rather, it can guarantee that task execution time can be calculated prior to runtime.
Embedded programmers often use a “bare-metal” or “super loop” structure instead of an RTOS when concurrency is not needed. This is the familiar “setup” and “loop forever” style of embedded code where no OS is employed. Many embedded applications can be written in this format, and they are often easier to debug.
In the rest of the series, we will cover various RTOS concepts and provide demonstrations on the ESP32 using Arduino. After each video, excluding this one, we will issue a challenge and the solution can be found in a Maker.IO link provided in the video’s description. We encourage you to try the challenge without looking at the solution.
Product Links:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/3405/7244967
Related Videos:
Introduction to RTOS Part 1 - What is a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)? - https://youtu.be/F321087yYy4
Introduction to RTOS Part 2 - Getting Started with FreeRTOS - https://youtu.be/JIr7Xm_riRs
Introduction to RTOS Part 3 - Task Scheduling - https://youtu.be/95yUbClyf3E
Introduction to RTOS Part 4 - Memory Management - https://youtu.be/Qske3yZRW5I
Introduction to RTOS Part 5 - Queue - https://youtu.be/pHJ3lxOoWeI
Introduction to RTOS Part 6 - Mutex - https://youtu.be/I55auRpbiTs
Introduction to RTOS Part 7 - https://youtu.be/5JcMtbA9QEE
Introduction to RTOS Part 8 - https://youtu.be/b1f1Iex0Tso
Introduction to RTOS Part 9 - https://youtu.be/qsflCf6ahXU
Introduction to RTOS Part 10 - https://youtu.be/hRsWi4HIENc
Introduction to RTOS Part 11 - https://youtu.be/C2xKhxROmhA
Introduction to RTOS Part 12 - https://youtu.be/LPSHUcH5aQc
Related Articles:
https://www.digikey.com/en/maker/videos/shawn-hymel/getting-started-with-stm32-and-nucleo-part-3-how-to-run-multiple-threads-with-cmsis-rtos-interface
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