Today's real-time and embedded applications contain a broad range of functionality, such as GUI-based operator interfaces, communication with other information systems, and time-critical monitoring and control of equipment. For both developers and end users of these applications, Windows — with its advanced features, range of supported hardware configurations, and availability of off-the-shelf add-on components — is the operating system platforms of choice.
However, Windows is a general purpose operating system and its scheduling functionality was not targeted for real-time applications. Therefore, real-time developers are significantly restricted, and often times prevented from using the Windows Operating System. IntervalZero's RTX64 product bridges this gap by adding real-time capabilities to Windows. It also provides tools and utilities for building and executing real-time programs.
NOTE: Real-time systems are sometimes classified as hard or soft real-time systems. A hard real-time system is one in which the response time determinism requirement is absolute; for a soft real-time system, some small deviations are tolerated. IntervalZero believes that there should be no tolerated deviations, and so when the phrase "real-time" appears in this documentation, it means hard real-time.
By extending the Windows operating system, RTX64 enables application components or modules that require deterministic and high-speed response times, along with other non-real-time application components, to work together on a common Windows system. With RTX64, you can use a single, low-cost platform to satisfy a full range of real-time and embedded application requirements.
While RTX64 brings superior real-time capabilities to Windows, there are two areas in which real-time application developers must take active responsibility to fully realize its benefits. First, because worst-case response times vary significantly among systems, developers and their end users must carefully select their systems. Different board vendors, especially video card vendors, make different tradeoffs between price, throughput, and deterministic behavior. Second, developers must properly implement RTX64 in their applications. RTX64 provides raw power that can, if implemented in applications improperly, adversely impact other Windows applications and might even compromise overall system stability.
