Operating System Microkernel-based Embedded Component Technology

Embedded OS has been challenged to acquire features of extensibility, flexibility and portability in order to be applied to diversified embedded applications, which can be obtained by adopting a microkernel architecture.The thesis firstly presents a thorough analysis of matters need to be dealt with when designing microkernel architecture, then proposes a general-purpose microkernel architecture in embedded OS, which can not only respond quickly to external devices, but also satisfy the requirements of real-time scheduling and enable processes to communicate with each other through events, messages or signals mechanisms. Next, several approaches have been brought forward to further enhance the real-time performance of embedded OS.The most fundamental and essential responsibility of a multi-process OS would be process management and switching. The thesis elaborates on each step of process switching in the case of MC68VZ328 platform, which bears both theoretical and practical values and can be used as an instructive reference when implementing process switching in the case of other embedded platforms.Components technology can reinforce portability and flexibility of embedded OS, and also facilitate carrying out distributed application on the embedded platform. The later chapters of the thesis are to give an overview about how to implement a component-oriented embedded OS, and further present a tailored component specification according to MC68VZ328 platform to realize its component-oriented microkernel.