From CHAOS/sup base/ to CHAOS/sup arc/: a family of real-time kernels

Abstract

The authors present a family of object-based real-time operating system kernels that address portability, extensibility, and customizability for low-level and subsystem-level operations. The family is extensible in that new abstractions and functionalities can be added easily and efficiently, thereby maintaining uniform kernel interfaces and permitting the implementation of domain or target machine specific features while preserving some given kernel interface for existing programs. It also provides an environment for experimenting with and prototyping of new operating system constructs and policies. The family is customizable in that existing kernel abstractions and functions can be modified easily, facilitating changes to an operating system for uses with different target architectures or application domains. The family is portable in that its implementation is based on the Mach C threads standard as a base layer for uniprocessors and parallel architectures.<>