Real-time operating system

A Real Time Operating System (RTOS) is an operating system that has been developed for real-time applications. It is typically used for embedded applications, such as mobile telephones, industrial robots, or scientific research equipment.

Related Topics:
Operating system - Real-time - Embedded - Robots

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An RTOS facilitates the creation of real-time systems, but does not guarantee that they are real-time; this requires correct development of the system level software. Nor does an RTOS necessarily have high throughput — rather they allow though specialized scheduling algorithms and deterministic behavior the guarantee that system deadlines can be met. That is, an RTOS is valued more for how quickly it can respond to an event than for the total amount of work it can do. Key factors in evaluating an RTOS are therefore maximal interrupt and thread latency.

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An early example of a large-scale real-time operating system was the so-called "control program" developed by American Airlines and IBM for the Sabre Airline Reservations System.

Related Topics:
American Airlines - IBM - Sabre Airline Reservations System

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Debate exists about what actually constitutes real-time computing.

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