Vol.:(0123456789)
The Journal of Supercomputing
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-023-05151-0
1 3
FPGA implementation of hardware accelerated RTOS based
on real‑time event handling
Ionel Zagan
1,2
· Vasile Gheorghiță Găitan
1,2
Accepted: 28 February 2023
© The Author(s) 2023
Abstract
Actual trends in the real-time system feld consists of migration towards complex
central processing unit (CPU) architectures with enhanced execution predictability
and rapid CPU contexts switch, thus obtaining high-performant control systems. The
main objective of this paper is to present the results obtained following the imple-
mentation of real-time operating systems (RTOS) functions in hardware. Based on
the CPU resource multiplication concept, actual researches has been focused on syn-
thesizing in feld-programmable gate array (FPGA) and implementing innovative
solutions to improve RTOS performance. The results are materialized by validating
an efcient hardware scheduler micro-architecture, from which a remarkable ef-
ciency and a plus of performance and predictability are obtained. The experimental
results, the FPGA resource requirements for implementation of the processor in dif-
ferent confgurations, and the comparisons with other similar processor architectures
are presented in order to verify theoretical aspects proposed through this paper.
Keywords nMPRA architecture · Hardware RTOS · Fast context switch · Resource
multiplication
1 Introduction
Due to the complexity of the real-time applications and very short response times
in the industrial, medical and automotive felds, the design and development of
hardware systems with increased computing power was necessary; more convenient
* Ionel Zagan
zagan@usm.ro
* Vasile Gheorghiță Găitan
vgaitan@usm.ro
1
Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, 720229 Suceava, Romania
2
Integrated Center for Research, Development and Innovation in Advanced Materials,
Nanotechnologies, and Distributed Systems for Fabrication and Control (MANSiD), Stefan cel
Mare University, Suceava, Romania