Real-Time Embedded Components and Systems with Linux and RTOS
This book is intended to provide a senior undergraduate or graduate student in electrical engineering or computer science with a balance of fundamental theory, review of industry practice, and hands-on experience to prepare for a career in the real-time embedded system industries. It is also intended to provide the practicing engineer with the necessary background to apply real-time theory to the design of embedded components and systems. Typical industries include aerospace, medical diagnostic and therapeutic systems, telecommunications, automotive, robotics, industrial process control, media systems, computer gaming, and electronic entertainment, as well as multimedia applications for general-purpose computing. This updated edition adds three new chapters focused on key technology advancements in embedded systems and with wider coverage of real-time architectures. The overall focus remains the RTOS (Real-Time Operating System), but use of Linux for soft real-time, hybrid FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) architectures and advancements in multi-core system-on-chip (SoC), as well as software strategies for asymmetric and symmetric multiprocessing (AMP and SMP) relevant to real-time embedded systems, have been added. Companion files are provided with numerous project videos, resources, applications, and figures from the book. Instructors’ resources are available upon adoption.
FEATURES:
• Provides a comprehensive, up to date, and accessible presentation of embedded systems without sacrificing theoretical foundations
• Features the RTOS (Real-Time Operating System), but use of Linux for soft real-time, hybrid FPGA architectures and advancements in multi-core system-on-chip is included
• Discusses an overview of RTOS advancements, including AMP and SMP configurations, with a discussion of future directions for RTOS use in multi-core architectures, such as SoC
• Detailed applications coverage including robotics, computer vision, and continuous media
• Includes a companion disc (4GB) with numerous videos, resources, projects, examples, and figures from the book
• Provides several instructors’ resources, including lecture notes, Microsoft PP slides, etc.
Why Read This Book
You will get a balanced mix of real-time theory, industry best practices, and hands-on examples that prepare you to design and evaluate real-time embedded components and systems. The book bridges RTOS concepts and embedded Linux development so you can apply scheduling, synchronization, device driver, and integration techniques to real-world ARM and RISC-V-based products.
Who Will Benefit
Senior undergraduate or graduate students and practicing embedded engineers who need to apply real-time theory and industry practice to firmware, RTOS, and embedded Linux product development.
Level: Intermediate — Prerequisites: Comfort with C programming, basic digital electronics and microcontroller concepts, and an understanding of operating-system fundamentals (processes/threads, interrupts); calculus or signals background helpful but not required.
Key Takeaways
- Design real-time task models and apply scheduling algorithms to meet timing requirements
- Implement safe concurrency and synchronization for RTOS and POSIX-based systems
- Develop and test embedded Linux device drivers and integrate kernel-space and user-space components
- Analyze latencies and performance on ARM and RISC-V targets, and apply techniques to bound jitter
- Integrate networking and IoT connectivity patterns while addressing security and resource constraints
Topics Covered
- Introduction to Real-Time Embedded Systems
- Real-Time Task Models and Scheduling Theory
- Synchronization, Concurrency, and Resource Management
- RTOS Architectures and Practical Usage (FreeRTOS, POSIX RT extensions)
- Embedded Linux Fundamentals and Real-Time Extensions
- Device Drivers and Hardware–Software Interfaces
- Timing Analysis, Latency Measurement, and Debugging
- Networking, Middleware, and IoT Connectivity
- Multicore and Parallelism in Real-Time Systems
- Virtualization, Containers, and Safety/Certification Considerations
- System Integration, Testing, and Case Studies
- Appendices: Toolchains, Cross-Compilation, and Measurement Tools
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
Combines the theoretical real-time focus of Jane W.S. Liu's Real-Time Systems with the practical embedded Linux and driver emphasis of books like Embedded Linux Primer.
