OPEN SYSTEMS FOR TIME-CRITICAL APPLICATIONS IN TELEMETRY

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the next generation of open real-time systems for time critical applications in telemetry. Traditionally, real-time computing has been a realm of proprietary systems, with real-time applications written in assembly language. With the escalating cost of software development and the need for porting real-time applications to state-of-the-art hardware without massive conversion efforts, there is a need for real-time applications to be portable so that they can be moved to newer hardware platforms easily. Therefore, the next generation of real-time systems will be based on open systems incorporating industry standards, which will reduce system cost and time to market, increase availability of software packages, increase ease-of-use, and facilitate system integration. The open real-time system strategy, presented in this paper, is based on hardware architectures using off-the-shelf microprocessors, Motorola 680X0 and 88X00 families, and the REAL/IX operating system, a fully preemptive real-time UNIX operating system, developed by MODCOMP.