Chapter: Embedded and Real Time Systems : Process and Operating Systems

Processes and Context Switching

The best way to understand processes and context is to dive into an RTOS implementation.

PROCESSES AND CONTEXT SWITCHING:

The best way to understand processes and context is to dive into an RTOS implementation. We will use the FreeRTOS.org kernel as an example; in particular, we will use version 4.7.0 for the ARM7 AT91 platform. A process is known in FreeRTOS.org as a task. Task priorities in FreeRTOS.org are ranked opposite to the convention we use in the rest of the book: higher numbers denote higher priorities and the priority 0 task is the idle task.

To understand the basics of a context switch, let’s assume that the set of tasks is in steady state:

Everything has been initialized, the OS is running, and we are ready for a timer interrupt. Figure 3.4 shows a sequence diagram for a context switch in freeRTOS.org. This diagram shows the application tasks, the hardware timer, and all the functions in the kernel that are involved in the context switch:

vPreemptiveTick () is called when the timer ticks.

portSAVE_CONTEXT() swaps out the current task context..

vTaskSwitchContext ( ) chooses a new task.

portRESTORE_CONTEXT() swaps in the new context.

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Embedded and Real Time Systems : Process and Operating Systems : Processes and Context Switching |