Context switching time and memory footprint comparison of Xilkernel and μC/OS-II on MicroBlaze

Using soft processors is an increasingly encountered trend in real-time embedded system design. If a system uses a field programmable gate array (FPGA) platform, one can save area, power, money and more by embedding a soft processor onto this FPGA platform. Another trend is using a real time operating system (RTOS) for microprocessors or microcontrollers in real-time embedded systems. RTOSs help software people in meeting the critical deadlines of the real-time environment with their deterministic and predictable behavior. In this paper, we first discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a soft processor and give a brief description of Xilinx´s soft processor MicroBlaze. We then make a simple comparison of standalone (having no RTOS) systems with systems running an RTOS and give a brief introduction of two existing RTOSs, namely μC/OS-II and Xilkernel and the benchmark criteria for comparing these. We finally compare μC/OS-II and Xilkernel over the MicroBlaze platform in terms of their context switching times and memory footprints.