Quick Overview of FreeRTOS vs MQX RTOS
MQX real-time operating system is designed for uniprocessor, multiprocessor, and distributed-processor embedded real-time system. Freescale semiconductor adopted this software platform for its microprocessors. This includes Kinetis, Coldfire, PowerPC, ARC,ARM, StrongARM, xscale CPUs. The main features of MQX RTOS are scalable size, component-oriented architecture and easy of use.
FreeRTOS is a popular real-time operating system kernel for embedded devices, that has been ported to 35 architectures. It is distributed under the GPL with an optional exception. FreeRTOS provides a very small footprint, low overhead and very fast execution. The kernel itself consist of only three or four C files. 4-8k bytes of flash minimum.
Similar features : [to be done]
Tasks, events, semaphores,mutex, message queues, power saving when idle
Freertos unique features :
1 Task nofifications: Each RTOS task has a 32-bit notification value which is initialized to zero when the RTOS task is created. An RTOS task notification is an event sent directly to a task that can unblock the receiving task, and optionally update the receiving task’s notification value.
2 Recursive mutex: A mutex used recursively can be 'taken' repeatedly by the owner. The mutex doesn't become available again until the owner has called xSemaphoreGiveRecursive() for each successful xSemaphoreTakeRecursive() request. For example, if a task successfully 'takes' the same mutex 5 times then the mutex will not be available to any other task until it has also 'given' the mutex back exactly five times.
3 Stack overflow hook/notification: Each task maintains its own stack. The memory used by the task stack is allocated automatically when the task is created, and dimensioned by a parameter passed to the xTaskCreate() API function. Stack overflow is a very common cause of application instability. FreeRTOS therefore provides two optional mechanisms that can be used to assist in the detection and correction of just such an occurrence
4 Deferred interrupt handling: Used from application interrupt service routines to defer the execution of a function to the RTOS daemon task. A mechanism is provided that allows the interrupt to return directly to the task that will subsequently execute the pended function. This allows the callback function to execute contiguously in time with the interrupt - just as if the callback had executed in the interrupt itself
5 Blocking on multiple objects: Queue sets are a FreeRTOS feature that enables an RTOS task to block (pend) when receiving from multiple queues and/or semaphores at the same time. Queues and semaphores are grouped into sets, then, instead of blocking on an individual queue or semaphore, a task instead blocks on the set.
MQX unique features:
1 Destruction of resource based on ownership: [to be done]
2 Name services: tasks can associate a 32-bit number with a string or symbolic name.MQX RTOS stores the association in a names database that all tasks on the
processor can use. The database avoids global variables.
3 Inter-Processor Communication: An application can run concurrently on multiple processors with one executable image of MQX RTOS on each processor. The images communicate and cooperate using messages that are transferred by memory or over communication links using inter-processor communication. The application tasks in each image need not be the same and, indeed, are usually different.
4 Watchdogs: Watchdogs are option components that let the user detect task starvation and deadlock conditions at the task level.
5 Task Queue Scheduling: you can use task queues to explicitly schedule tasks or to create more complex synchronization mechanisms. Because task queues provide minimal functionality, they are fast. An application can specify a FIFO or round robin scheduling policy when it creates the task queue
