The META Scholar Volume 3 | Page 31

Page 30 RT Linux RT Linux, Real Time Linux, is a preemptive kernel, developed by Wind River Systems and FSMLABs in 1996. Because it‘s a preemptive kernel it is used in applications where latency is or can be an issue. There are two types of RT OS‘s in the embedded world both dependent on their response time to real events. The first is hard RT OS and the second is soft RTOS. From the name itself, you may have figured out that hard RTOS is simply more reliable, it is considered deterministic, while soft RTOS is not. RTLinux is a product and an example of an embedded Linux OS. A generic architecture for an embedded OS is shown in the figure below. Let‘s take a closer look. There are many embedded Linux platforms. IEC63204 Medical Device Life Cycle Process: It‘s important to mention something about software lifecycle in medical devices. There are several related standards for softw