A universal real-time kernel based on the mu ITRON specification

The growing variety of target processors complicates the design of applications. To reduce this complexity, a universal design environment is desired. As the first step in designing the hardware independent environment, the authors propose a universal real-time kernel specification for 8 to 32-bit microprocessors. The mu ITRON specification can be applied to various processors but to specify the universal specification, some decisions need to be made. The authors discuss the variations in the word length, trade-offs in hiding architectures, and other related issues. They then propose the universal specification based on the mu ITRON specification.<>