Real-Time Systems recently announced the availability of the latest version of its Real-Time Hypervisor software. Available immediately, this software product enables the simultaneous running of multiple operating systems on multi-core processors, and now also supports Microsoft Windows XP.
To take advantage of multi-core CPU’s, more and more real-time software manufacturers have been forced to develop custom solutions. A few years ago, Real-Time Systems developed a software product to make it possible for embedded application engineers to run standard operating systems, both real-time and conventional, on Intel multi-core platforms.
Conventional hypervisors are generally implemented by interposing an additional software layer between an operating system and the CPU core that it uses. RTS claims this kind of solution often influences the deterministic behavior of the real-time system.
In contrast to that, the RTS Real-time Hypervisor makes it possible to run – simultaneously, independently and robustly – a number of standard (homogeneous or heterogeneous) operating systems on a single x-86 multi-core execution platform. According to the company, RTS software technology does not in the least interfere with any of the supported operating systems’ timing behavior.
By enabling the support of Microsoft Windows XP in the RTH Hypervisor environment, RTS says it has opened up an entirely new world of possibilities for innovative embedded systems. There are countless time-critical applications that would profit by simultaneously running both the real-time software and Windows-based man-machine interfaces on the same
Currently, the RTS Hypervisor supports Windows XP, Windows CE and Linux, as well as VxWorks, PharLab ETS and Microware OS-9. Support for additional operating systems is in progress. RTS Hypervisor, ver. 1.5, is available now. Version 2.0 is scheduled to be released in the fall.
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