Real-time operating system
A real-time operating system, sometimes known as an RTOS, is a kind of operating system (OS) designed specifically for use with real-time applications. RTOSs are responsible for processing data and events that must adhere to strictly outlined time restrictions. A real-time operating system (RTOS) is not the same as a time-sharing operating system (such as Unix), which manages the sharing of system resources in a multitasking or multiprogramming environment by using a scheduler, data buffers, or fixed task prioritisation. RTOSs are designed specifically for real-time applications. It is not enough to just aim for the bare minimum when it comes to the processing time requirements; they need to be thoroughly understood and constrained. Any processing must take place within the parameters that have been set. Real-time operating systems are event-driven and preemptive, which means that the OS is able to monitor the relevant priority of competing tasks and make adjustments to the task's priority as necessary. In time-sharing systems, task switching is determined by clock interruptions, but in event-driven systems, task switching is determined by the relative importance of the tasks.
An important quality of an RTOS is the degree to which it is consistent with regard to the length of time it takes to accept and finish the job posed by an application; the degree of variability is referred to as "jitter." When compared to a'soft' real-time operating system (soft RTOS), a 'hard' real-time operating system (hard RTOS) has a lower level of jitter (soft RTOS). With a hard RTOS, a late response is considered to be an incorrect answer, but in a soft RTOS, a late answer is considered to be acceptable. It is not a high throughput that is the primary design objective; rather, it is a guarantee of either a soft or hard performance category. A real-time operating system (RTOS) is considered to be hard real-time if it can meet a deadline in a predictable manner whereas a soft real-time OS is one that can typically or generally meet a deadline.
An RTOS comes equipped with a sophisticated scheduling algorithm. Although a flexible scheduler makes it possible for a larger computer system to be orchestrated in terms of process priorities, a real-time operating system is often only devoted to a select group of applications. It is more important for a real-time operating system to respond quickly and predictably than it is for the system to be able to complete a certain amount of work in a certain amount of time. Key components of a real-time operating system include minimal interrupt latency and minimal thread switching latency.
For a full list, please refer to the discussion on real-time operating systems. Additionally, check out the list of operating systems to learn about the many kinds of software.