Texas Instruments has developed a new, free real-time operating system (RTOS) based on a pre-emptive multithreading kernel, which will run on the full portfolio of TI microcontrollers, including dual core devices. TI-RTOS includes a deterministic, real-time multitasking kernel (SYS/BIOS) with a TCP/IP stack, including network applications, USB, EMAC, MMC/SD host and device stacks and class drivers, FAT-compatible file system fully integrated with C RTS file I/O functions and Ethernet, USB, UART, I²C and SD device drivers. It also supports low overhead core-to-core communication mechanism for dual-core devices.

 

The RTOS is based on a modular architecture with a small footprint, enabling easy removal of software functionality not required in the application. Components are also scalable, allowing further reductions in memory requirements. Robust documentation and examples help to augment designs, including examples and APIs suitable for multitasking development and integration.