embOS

The leading family of ultra-reliable and deterministic real-time operating systems (RTOSs)

Create application with embOS; verify with SystemView

Overview

embOS is a family of real-time operating systems (RTOSs) designed to serve as a foundation for embedded-application development. Now in its fourth decade of continuous use and enhancement, embOS provides the reliability and performance that underpin the firmware of every SEGGER Flasher, J-Link, and J-Trace. embOS is available for all popular cores, compilers, and development tools, and it has been deployed in several billion devices across a wide range of application areas.

The embOS family consists of the ultra-reliable embOS-Safe, embOS-MPU and embOS-Base, as well as the cutting-edge embOS-Ultra.

While most RTOSs couple their timing tightly with a periodic system tick hardware timer, embOS-Ultra offers a completely new approach to scheduling in an embedded system — completely eliminating polling and no-operation context switches. This feature opens new fields of applications for an RTOS.

Key features

Reliability

Now in its fourth decade, embOS has proven its reliability after being deployed in several billion devices. An edition certified for functional safety in accordance with IEC 61508 SIL 3, IEC 62304 Class C, and ISO 26262 ASIL D is available as well.

Efficiency

embOS is a high-performance real-time operating system. It has been optimized for minimum memory consumption in both RAM and ROM, as well as for high speed and versatility.

Availability

embOS supports virtually any core and compiler, offering more than 100 ports and over 500 board support packages for the embedded market.

Use cases

embOS is suitable for a wide range of use cases across a variety of applications. In general, something that all of these use cases have in common is that they operate with one or multiple microcontrollers or -processors. Sample use cases are described below:

Battery-driven colorimeter by BYK Gardner

Battery-powered devices

Wherever power is a valuable resource (such as handheld devices), low-power operation modes should be employed as often as possible. All embOS editions include features to significantly reduce power consumption, and they are tailored to run on even the smallest microcontrollers.

Networking and IoT

Connected networks introduce a variety of tasks that might interfere with the original intended use of the device. All embOS editions provide robust and proven task management functions to ensure safe operation under adverse conditions.

Medical device with safety certification

Safety-critical devices

Products benefit embOS-Safe's functional safety certification. Certification is in accordance with IEC 61508 SIL 3, IEC 62304 Class C, and ISO 26262 ASIL D. Certification has been achieved without modifications to the backbone, which serves as a foundation for all embOS editions.

Precise and predictable control systems

Closed-loop and other control systems require real-time conditions to operate. embOS warrants deterministic behavior by design, and embOS-Ultra takes precision even further by providing enough headroom for future applications.

Customer voices

"Using SEGGER's products has been a great move for our firmware. SEGGER’s product reliability and support have substantially facilitated our firmware development."
Jason Schlessmann, adidas Wearable Sports Electronics, United States

"I am especially happy about embOS's performance. I have a multitasking application that includes audio; real-time video capture; flash writing; and, at the same time, video dispatches to a remote site through a wireless radio interface. Without embOS, I can hardly imagine how I could do all these tasks."
Jimmy Wang, United States

embOS editions

embOS-Ultra

The next generation RTOS

embOS-Ultra oﬀers higher precision and time resolution than any other RTOS on the market, resulting in less energy consumption and improved performance.

embOS-Safe

Safety-certified RTOS

embOS is a certified RTOS according to IEC 61508 SIL 3, IEC 62304 Class C, and ISO 26262 ASIL D. embOS-Safe comes with a certification kit containing all necessary documents, including the comprehensive embOS Safety manual.

embOS-MPU

The heart of every safety-critical IoT device

embOS-MPU offers memory protection in addition to the proven embOS RTOS. It significantly enhances both stability and safety for embedded applications, simplifying any certification process.

embOS-Base

The leading real-time operating system

embOS-Base has proven its reliability in billions of deployed devices over several decades, and it lays the foundation for all embOS editions.

First-class support

SEGGER offers first-class support directly from the embOS development team. Customers can tap into a knowledge base developed over almost four decades. For support requests, this means quick turn-around times as well as responses from qualified experts.

Supported devices

embOS supports almost all popular microcontrollers and other CPUs. In general, if a core is supported, then all that is needed is a fairly simple board support package — either derived from an existing package, or selected from packages that SEGGER's engineers have already developed.

More details are available under embOS ports, as is a list of included board support packages.

Licensing

embOS is available under various embedded software license models and delivered in object and source-code packages. With a wide range of licensing options, embOS can fulfill both commercial and technical requirements.

All licenses are obtained through one-time payments. embOS is royalty free and is not subscription based, meaning that software is a part of equipment expenses, keeping costs static. embOS licenses include six months of updates and support from SEGGER's Embedded Experts.

* Applies to a second seat/product and all additional seats/products of the Single Product License and Single Developer License.

Friendly License

The object code packages are available under SEGGER's Friendly License (SFL). This means that the use of embOS for evaluation and non-commercial purposes is unrestricted.

These packages are easily downloadable for each embOS port at https://www.segger.com/downloads/embos/.