News Item

13 Mar 2017

CMSIS-RTOS Choices: Keil RTX or FreeRTOS

ARM extends CMSIS compliant real-time operating systems for the microcontroller industry with CMSIS-RTOS v2 and the adoption of Keil RTX and FreeRTOS.

CMSIS-RTOS is a generic RTOS interface for ARM® Cortex®-M processor-based devices. It provides a standardized API for software components that require RTOS functionality and gives therefore serious benefits to the users and the software industry:

• CMSIS-RTOS provides basic features that is required in many embedded applications.
• The unified feature set of the CMSIS-RTOS reduces learning efforts and simplifies sharing of software components.
• Middleware components that use the CMSIS-RTOS interface are easier to adapt.

The CMSIS-RTOS v2 API extends the first implementation and addresses the following new requirements:

• Dynamic object creation no longer requires static memory, static memory buffers are now optional.
• Support for TrustZone technology on Cortex-M provides a secure and non-secure execution area.
• Provisions for message passing in multi-core systems and C++ run-time environments.
• C interface which is binary compatible across ABI compatible compilers.

RTOS choices with compatible API

A lock-in into a specific RTOS kernel introduces some project risk as requirements may change over the project life-cycle, for example, when deterministic interrupt response or support for a new processor core is required. ARM offers therefore various implementations of the CMSIS-RTOS as shown in the following picture.

When using the CMSIS-RTOS API, the underlying RTOS kernel can be easily replaced. Also migration of CMSIS-RTOS v1 to CMSIS-RTOS v2 is simplified with the compatibility layer.

• Keil RTX4 is available since 2005 and the basis for the original CMSIS-RTOS v1 reference implementation. It is also part of the current mbed OS scheduler.
• Keil RTX5 is a new ground-up implementation that natively supports the CMSIS-RTOS v2 API. The kernel supports all Cortex-M processors (including Cortex-M23/M33) and the compatibility layer provides CMSIS-RTOS v1 compliance. RTX5 uses Cortex-M hardware features and never disables interrupts during kernel execution (except for Cortex-M0/M0+).
• FreeRTOS is widely adopted to different processors and is now available with a CMSIS-RTOS v2 API interface. CMSIS-RTOS v1 based applications may use the compatibility layer.

Select RTOS in MDK

All CMSIS-RTOS implementations are provided as Software Pack that simplifies project integration. Keil RTX4 and RTX5 are part of the CMSIS Software Pack. The FreeRTOS implementation is a separate software pack available from www.keil.com/pack, the Pack Installer, or GitHub. The picture below shows the selection of FreeRTOS with the CMSIS-RTOS compliant API or the a native FreeRTOS API. When using the CMSIS-RTOS2 configuration file, the native FreeRTOS API is still available which allows project migration over time.

RTOS Kernel Awareness and Event Recorder

The CMSIS-RTOS implementations are supported in the uVision Debugger with the Component Viewer for kernel awareness and the Event Recorder for analysing the dynamic run-time behaviour. The picture below shows FreeRTOS debugging using the MDK-Lite edition and the uVision Debugger in simulation mode - no target hardware is required.

Getting started with CMSIS-RTOS