SPACE Embedded Operating System Research

Nowadays, a rapid development takes place in the area of computer hardware, together with an explosive emergence of application software and a widespread popularity of Internet, computers has reached throughout every corner of the world. Embedded system, as a significant branch of operating system, has been utilized in the every accessible field. However, as a representation of CISC processors, key technology related to x86have been kept in the procession of only a few foreign companies. As regards to domestic research, only a limited number of scholars focus on this area. Related research concentrates mainly on x86in the industrial control and low-end embedded systems market, less on the embedded system of fully completely compatible x86processor with high performance.In the field of embedded systems, the research in terms of microkernel structure is limited. uClinux, uCOSII, Android, Embedded Linux and WinCE, which we are familiar with, are monolithic structure; only commercial QNX system and Wind River’s VxWorks system microkernel structure. In order to further analyze the microkernel structure, this paper would focus on the microkernel design of open source Minix, analyzing the differences between microkernel and macro-kernel to discover its way of inter-process communication (IPC).This paper aims to design a microkernel structure system for SPACE operating system, which could push forward the development of SPACE operating system. The structural framework of the system is built up through analysis of embedded system in terms of application areas and its development, the study of operating system’s basic principles and the comparison of macro-kernel and micro-kernel. In this study, we select x86architecture as the platform. The study includes system booting, the jump from real mode to protected mode, interrupt management, process management, IPC and input-output system. The analysis will mainly focuse on the interrupt management, inter-process communication and realized two applications to achieve the purpose and results.Finally, the paper will review the work and make prospects for further research.