Embedded systems' virtualization: The next challenge?

Traditionally, virtualization has been adopted by enterprise industry aiming to make better use of general purpose multi-core processors and its use in embedded systems (ES) seemed to be both a distant and unnecessary reality. However, with the rise of each more powerful multiprocessed ESs, virtualization brings an opportunity to use simultaneously several operating systems (OS) besides offering more secure systems and even an easier way to reuse legacy software. Although ESs have increasingly bigger computational power, they are still far more restricted than general purpose computers, especially in terms of area, memory and power consumption. Therefore, is it possible to use virtualization — a technique that typically demands robust systems — in powerful yet restricted current embedded systems? In this paper we show why the answer should be yes.