RT-Thread Smart hybrid microkernel operating system released, benchmarking Linux in smart devices

On September 1, when RT-Thread founder Xiong Puxiang announced that the latest microkernel operating system RT-Thread Smart would still be open source, there was warm applause at the press conference. This man, affectionately called "Xiong Da" by industry insiders, once again brought everyone a big surprise.

Nowadays, when RT-Thread is mentioned in the industry, most engineers already know about it, and those who are particularly familiar with it will talk about it for half a day. This exquisite and elegant operating system, which was born in 2006, has now become the most mature, stable and installed open source RTOS independently developed by Chinese people. Ruiside Technology Co., Ltd. received nearly 100 million yuan in round B financing at the end of 2019. So at the time when RT-Thread is booming, what is the strategic significance of the launch of RT-Thread Smart?
 
What is RT-Thread Smart?

Xiong Puxiang introduced that, unlike RT-Thread, which targets mainstream MCU and Wi-Fi chips, the RT-Thread Smart microkernel operating system, which took two years to develop, mainly fills the gap between traditional RTOS and large operating system Linux, and achieves the best balance in terms of real-time performance, cost, security, and startup speed. It is a professional high-performance hybrid microkernel operating system for mid-to-high-end processor applications with MMU (Memory Management Unit). It can provide a more competitive operating system basic software platform for many fields, with features such as fast startup, full compatibility with POSIX interfaces, convenient development and debugging (supporting RT-Thread Studio integrated development environment), separation of applications and kernels, and high security.

The reason why RT-Thread Smart is launched at this moment is because we have seen the current industry needs, application scenarios and problems in the market: Xiong Puxiang introduced that the IoT device side is originally a diverse and fragmented field. With the development of IoT technology, gateways need rapid format conversion between multiple protocols, security needs fast startup, AI-related equipment, etc. More and more applications need to use high-end processors with MMU functions. Currently, these devices mainly use the Linux operating system. Since the maintenance cost is high after the application is compiled with the kernel, it is easy to cause security problems. Therefore, the industry is looking forward to the birth of a smaller, faster, safer and more maintainable software development platform!

Therefore, after widely collecting the needs of chip and equipment manufacturers and combining its own technical accumulation, it took nearly two years for RT-Thread Smart to be born, and it has achieved excellent performance in resource usage, startup time, and real-time indicators:
 
Resource usage: Compared with the trimmed version of Linux, the compressed kernel occupies 3.57MB, the root file system occupies 5MB, and the memory occupies 17.4MB, the compressed kernel of RT-Thread Smart is only 217KB, the file system is 127kB, and the memory occupies 1.9MB.

Boot time: It takes 3 to 5 seconds to boot "RT-Thread + file system + network protocol stack + multimedia" using the macro kernel, and 5 to 10 seconds for Linux, while it takes less than 500 milliseconds to boot using RT-Thread Smart.
In the case of a graphics system, the boot time of RT-Thread Smart + Persimmon UI is only 1.7 seconds, much faster than Linux's 14.4 seconds.

 
Real-time performance: tested with a 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor and 40,000 interrupts, the interrupt response delay is <1us, which can meet demanding high-real-time situations, such as power detection, rail traffic control, and automobile braking.
 
Decrypting RT-Thread Smart Hybrid Microkernel

RT-Thread Smart adopts a hybrid microkernel (kernel size as low as 500kB, only contains basic functions, and can also be customized), user-mode system services (a series of original system services are placed in user mode, which are detachable, restartable, more secure, and memory isolated from each other) and continues the RT-Thread API style technical architecture (both applications and kernels can continue the RT-Thread API, and user mode has strong scalability). It has a complete user-mode environment, continues the original RT-Thread ecosystem, is built using Scons, and is connected to the RT-Thread online software package; it supports POSIX to facilitate the porting of Linux applications.

At the same time, RT-Thread Smart fully supports various architecture processors, such as Allwinner Cortex-A, Xilinx Zynq, Raspberry Pi with ARM core, Loongson 2K (64-bit processor), RISC-V processor (Future Allwinner's RISC-V processor will also be equipped with RT-Thread Smart). At the same time, RT-Thread Smart is integrated into the one-stop development tool RT-Thread Studio integrated development environment (IDE), further lowering the threshold for use and improving work efficiency.

In addition, RT-Thread Smart can seamlessly connect to the RT-Thread ecosystem, that is, RT-Thread Smart relies on RT-Thread's huge user base and supports the original RT-Thread chip BSP. Due to the consistent upper-level API design, it is compatible with RT-Thread software packages and tool chains, and is compatible with RT-Thread's huge stock of applications. Even with a solid foundation for successful promotion, when once again standing at the crossroads of the open source community and business, RT-Thread Smart once again chose open source.
 
Breaking the ecological pain and creating new technology

Open source and business seem to be contradictory. Regarding the balance between the two, RT-Thread COO Zou Cheng introduced: "Open source is our gene, we insist on open source, but a successful operating system, if it wants to develop well, still cannot do without commercial value." They are delighted to see that more and more users are willing to accept valuable commercial services, and business realization is much smoother than they expected. At present, RT-Thread, with its flexibility, technological leadership, and strong ecology, meets the needs of the industry AIoT independent basic software platform, based on open source, and realizes commercial value through enterprise services, software licensing, and value-added hardware models. At the same time, it will explore industry solution empowerment, platform channel sharing, App Store model, etc. to promote the commercialization of RT-Thread.

At the same time, the market also provides more and more opportunities: Zou Cheng introduced that the AIoT market (such as security and imaging, smart cities and industries, smart homes, and smart hardware) has huge demand potential. On the one hand, smart terminals have the technical trends of graphic interaction, application separation and security, edge computing and end-cloud integration, AI and multimedia, which allows the terminal's technical development platform to upgrade from a single RTOS (real-time operating system) kernel to an IoT OS (Internet of Things operating system) with rich intermediate components and software packages to improve development efficiency, and from multi-core multi-OS to a unified OS platform with reusable software and applications to improve talent management and efficiency. On the other hand, smart terminals require real-time, low-cost, and fast startup features, and real-time systems are becoming popular on microprocessors (MPUs). For example, microprocessors (MPUs) that support RT-Thread continue to increase, covering MPUs from mainstream manufacturers such as Fudan Micro, Allwinner, Loongson, ST, NXP, etc. At the press conference, Du Anli, vice president of Loongson Technology, also delivered a speech entitled "Industrial Internet Software and Hardware Architecture under Ontological Security", detailing Loongson's application cases for industrial Internet scenarios, including domestic software platform solutions including RT-Thread, and expressed that the company will establish strategic cooperation with RT-Thread in the future to jointly explore the industrial Internet market!

Sun Yanbang, general manager of Allwinner Technology's product R&D center, delivered a keynote speech titled "From Chips to Products, OS Selection for Smart Devices". He shared his years of experience in the industry, from changes in product applications to changes in product technology, and introduced the OS selection for smart devices: open source, real-time, fast startup, modularization, and a good ecological environment. He also stated that the RT-Thread Smart microkernel operating system will be installed on its RISC-V AP-level application processor by the end of the year to meet the needs of multimedia + network smart devices.

 
With the continuous management of the RT-Thread team and community, the installed capacity of RT-Thread has exceeded 600 million; the number of Github Stars has exceeded 4,600; there is a developer community of more than 100,000; more than 80 chip manufacturers support it, and more than 30 of them are natively equipped; more than 80 online and offline events are held every year; 3 Chinese books, 1 English book, and rich documentation content; 300+ software packages; a fledgling university plan, with more than 60 universities offering courses and nine universities establishing joint laboratories; RT-Thread Studio, a one-stop integrated development environment that links the upstream and downstream of the industry... continues to practice the concept of "no ecosystem, no OS".

 
Fortunately, RT-Thread Smart can seamlessly connect to the RT-Thread ecosystem. Zou Cheng introduced that RT-Thread Smart is mainly used in security, automotive, industrial, military and other industries. Take the IPC camera in security as an example: Linux is still the mainstream, but due to low cost, low power consumption, fast startup and other reasons, RTOS represented by RT-Thread is rapidly becoming popular, and RT-Thread Smart can almost achieve 100% compatibility with Linux applications, and the workload of application transplantation is very small. In addition, the convenience of RT-Thread Smart application development and debugging has been greatly improved, and the startup time can also be controlled within 300 milliseconds, with image display, which is more in line with the actual needs of IPC cameras. Similarly, the edge computing gateway is also a product of the industrial Internet. A large number of industrial field equipment, PLCs, sensors, machine tools and other equipment require edge computing gateways. At present, the device is still based on Linux and uses Cortex-A series processors such as Allwinner, Rockchip, and Xilinx. This requires the system to have control, computing, AI, human-computer interaction and other capabilities, and integrate various industrial protocols for secondary development. If you want to get a good experience, this requires that the system interrupt delay is less than 1us, the boot time is less than 500ms, and there must be real-time control capabilities and a fast boot speed. At the same time, the kernel must be stable and reliable and easy to develop. This is exactly what RT-Thread Smart is good at.
 
The future is here