A leading supplier of configurable and scalable real-time operating systems (RTOS), Quadros Systems, Inc., continuing its commitment to embedded application flexibility, announced the newest member of the RTXC family of real-time operating systems: the RTXC Microcontroller RTOS (RTXC/mc). This multi-tasking RTOS was designed specifically to meet the growing demand for high performance, small footprint 32-bit systems. Compared to the more full-featured RTXC/ms RTOS, it operates in half the memory footprint and with a 40% cost savings.

The new generation of 32-bit microcontrollers, such as ARM Cortex-M3, ARM7, and Freescale ColdFire v1/v2 processors, offers significant advantages to manufacturers of embedded systems who are currently using 8-bit controllers. Lower power operation, simpler coding, more integration and an easy migration path to higher level features. These are just some of the attributes that are moving development teams to new 32-bit architectures. These teams must also rethink their software strategy to realize these advantages. Central to 32-bit development is a well-architected operating system that can manage more complex system resources and keep operations synchronized. Real-time operating systems like RTXC/mc offer easier coding, a shortened development cycle, and a system that can respond to real-time deadlines.

The Quadros team paid close to the trade-offs between size and performance in configuring RTXC/mc. The result is an RTOS that provides the object classes and kernel services needed for robust application development and performance while maintaining a very small memory footprint. It boasts seven kernel object classes and 70 kernel services but fits into 12 kilobytes of ROM (non-volatile memory). Depending on the needs of the application, the user, with the RTXCgen™ configuration tool or the full-fledged graphical design tool, VisualRTXC™, can further scale the RTOS down to less than 2 KB. The rich set of kernel services gives the developer more precise control over the performance of the system. And the flexible scheduling models provide even greater efficiency in passing data, synchronizing with events and managing code execution.

RTXC/mc is a member of the RTXC Quadros RTOS family and is fully API-compatible with the rest of the family members. Knowing that their code is fully portable to the more fully featured RTXC/ms or RTXC/dm kernels - or even multi-core implementations, that means that developers can confidently develop their next application on RTXC/mc.