MQX
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2010) |
Kernel type | Microkernel RTOS |
---|---|
License | Proprietary |
Preceded by | MPX (renamed Harmony) |
Official website | www |
MQX (Message Queue eXecutive) is a real-time operating system (RTOS) developed by Precise Software Technologies, Inc., and currently sold by Synopsys, Embedded Access, Inc., and NXP Semiconductors.
Like most RTOSs, MQX includes a multitasking kernel with pre-emptive scheduling and fast interrupt response, extensive inter-process communication and synchronization facilities, and a file system.
Its configurable size conserves computer memory space using a minimum of 6 KB of read-only memory (ROM), including its kernel, interrupts, semaphores, queues, and a memory manager.
MQX includes an
MQX is generally used in embedded systems. MQX development occurs on a host machine running Unix or Windows, and cross-compiles target software to run on various target central processing unit (CPU) architectures.
MQX has been ported to many platforms and now runs on most modern CPUs used in the embedded market, including
.All new Kinetis (
History
MQX had its origins at Dy4 Systems, Inc., a company based in Ottawa, Canada. In 1984, a small team of software engineers there, consisting of Jeremy James, Mati Sauks, and Craig Honegger started researching novel applications for embedded multiprocessors. This work led to the use of a real-time operating system in writing firmware for Dy4 single board computers. In 1989, James and Sauks commercialized the Harmony RTOS, with the name MPX, which was developed for portable multiprocessor real-time computing systems by the National Research Council Canada, and created a company named Precise Software Technologies, Inc.
This effort led to developing the Precise Real-Time Executive technology that was the basis of a product named MQX and MQX+m, which were real-time executives for single processor and multiprocessor applications. The unique asynchronous message passing paradigm delivered by MQX when it was introduced in 1991 and the royalty-free licensing model were accepted immediately in the embedded real-time market. Since the introduction of MQX, Precise continually added functions to the MQX RTOS69 through its various iterations and versions.
Precise Software Technologies was acquired by ARC International in March, 2000
MQX has been used in thousands of embedded projects by over 1,000 companies, who have shipped millions of products running it. Today, firms such as ABB, Agilent, ATI Technologies, Baoruh Electronic, Bausch and Lomb, General Dynamics, Daewoo, Exabyte, General Electric, B.F. Goodrich, Liebert, Matrox, Mitel Networks, Philips, Porsche, QLogic, SICK, Sony, Tyco, and Xerox use MQX in applications such as industrial control, networking, storage, and consumer electronics.
References
- ^ "Freescale MQX Software Solutions". Retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ^ "ARC Cores acquires two small IP vendors". Retrieved 2012-09-04.
External links
- Official website, NXP Semiconductors
- Embedded Access