Real-time Linux Evaluations NASA Glenn Research Center Kalynnda Berens, SAIC Richard Plastow, SAIC

Mission Success Starts With Safety SAS The Problems: NASA projects need reliable real-time Operating Systems (OS) Current OS’s used = expensive Project budgets are going  Any cheaper, but good, real-time OS’s?  Real-time Linux!  How good is it?  Good enough to fly?

Mission Success Starts With Safety SAS Our approach Determine real-time Linux variants to test Create standardized test approach  Across all real-time Linux variants  Compatible with previous VxWorks testing Create test cases Execute tests for each variant  Modify if necessary for individual quirks Summarize results and compare

Mission Success Starts With Safety SAS Importance and Benefits Provide projects with information necessary to make informed decisions on operating systems:  Hard information on reliability and stability  Timing information Will it meet the project’s real-time requirements?  Support information Additional user information Tips and tricks to using the software

Mission Success Starts With Safety SAS Relevance to NASA At GRC, one project using RTLinux Pro  Cost was driving factor Throughout NASA, real-time operating systems are used extensively Good OS choices need good data  This evaluation will provide that data

Mission Success Starts With Safety SAS Accomplishments Standardized test suite Finished testing  RTLinux (free version)  RTLinux Pro  RTAI

Mission Success Starts With Safety SAS Next Steps Finish OS testing  Linux 2.6 kernel  Jaluna and/or MontaVista Test RTLinux PRO and RTAI on same hardware as VxWorks testing  Allows direct comparison of results Publish results!