embOS-Classic
The foundation for all embOS editions
- Real-time operating system (RTOS) designed to serve as a foundation for developing embedded applications
- Available for all popular cores, compilers, and development tools
- Deployed in several billion devices across a wide range of application areas
Key features
embOS-Classic is straightforward to use and guarantees fully deterministic real-time operation for any embedded device. It is highly portable and fully API-compatible on any platform, which makes it simple to port applications to different cores. Tasks can be created easily, and they communicate with each other safely via mechanisms such as semaphores, mailboxes, and events.
In addition, embOS-Classic offers full API compatibility with embOS-Ultra, giving developers the option to switch to cycle-resolution timing in their applications whenever higher precision is required.
Reliability
embOS-Classic is already deployed across several billion devices, and it is available with certification in functional safety in accordance with IEC 61508 SIL 3, IEC 62304 Class C, and ISO 26262 ASIL D.
Efficiency
embOS-Classic is a high-performance real-time operating system. It has been optimized for minimum memory consumption in both RAM and ROM.
Availability
embOS-Classic supports virtually any core and compiler through more than 80 embOS-Classic ports, including over 500 board support packages for the embedded market.
Use cases
The versatile nature of embOS-Classic makes it a core ingredient in any firmware that has to handle tasks that require synchronization, timely responses, and multiple tasks or threads in parallel. This means it is applied across a wide range of different areas. An example of this versatility would be use with IP stacks and USB-Host stacks, which are nearly impossible to run without the scheduling provided by an RTOS.
Internet of Things
By handling networking stacks and background tasks efficiently, embOS-Classic provides a reliable foundation for IoT applications that require stable networking and efficient task management.
Consumer electronics
embOS-Classic: The first choice for any consumer-electronics device—whether in entertainment, communications, or white goods.
Industrial controls
embOS-Classic is an essential component in industrial control systems—particularly in applications where deterministic and reliable behavior is absolutely required.
How embOS-Classic works
embOS-Classic is a preemptive multitasking system. Each task has a fixed priority, and the scheduler determines what task to execute—ensuring that the highest-priority executable task is always running. If a lower-priority task is active, it is immediately interrupted when a higher-priority task becomes ready. This enables preemptive multitasking. Tasks are activated by traditional periodic system ticks that are generated by a hardware timer at specified intervals. These can serve as a foundation for time-based functions, such as task delays or timeouts. The scheduler can also be triggered by external interrupts, such as the press of a button that activates a specific task. This approach ensures efficient CPU utilization by guaranteeing that time-critical tasks always take precedence, while background processes run only when no higher-priority tasks are active.
For detailed information, please see the online documentation for embOS.
Get started with embOS RTOS
This video provides a guide to downloading and setting up SEGGER's embOS RTOS using Embedded Studio.
Memory protection
embOS-Classic is also available with embOS-MPU (memory protection unit) technology, which leverages a processor's MPU in order to isolate individual tasks both from each other and the operating system. This ensures that errors in one application do not affect an entire system and that safety-critical functions are executed reliably. As a result, embedded systems benefit from enhanced stability, as unprivileged tasks have only controlled access to memory regions, peripherals, and operating-system objects.
More information is available on the embOS-MPU page.
Supported cores and compilers
embOS-Classic is available for different core and compiler combinations, all of which are listed in SEGGER's complete overview of embOS ports. This list is regularly updated. If a core or compiler is not on the list, SEGGER will port embOS-Classic to that target. Questions? Contact us.
What's included with embOS-Classic
embOS-Classic is delivered as a source-code package, providing maximum flexibility for embedded software development through source-level debugging, application-specific optimizations, and extensive customization options.
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Licensing
The software is available under various embedded software license models and can be delivered as source code. All commercial licenses are based on a one-time payment, are royalty-free, and include six months of updates and support from SEGGER’s Embedded Experts.
There are no subscription fees, ensuring predictable and fixed costs over the entire product lifetime.
For non-commercial use, evaluation, and educational purposes, the software is provided under SEGGER’s Friendly License.
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