MQX RTOS

The MQX Real-time Operating System provides real-time performance within a small, configurable
footprint. The MQX RTOS is designed to allow you to configure and balance code size with performance
requirements. The easy-to-use MQX API and out-of-box experience ensures first-time RTOS users can
start developing their application on the day you install the software but is powerful enough for
experienced OS developers easily migrate legacy application code to an MQX-based platform. MQX
RTOS is tightly integrated with the latest processors from Freescale and provided with commonly used
device drivers. It is integrated with the CodeWarrior tools, IAR tools, and Keil tools to support task aware
debugging.

DESIGNED FOR EMBEDDED APPLICATIONS

The MQX RTOS was specifically designed for embedded systems. Taking into account the limited
memory and real-time response requirement of many embedded applications, the MQX design created
an architecture that provided a RTOS with a full feature set but configurable enough to allow it to fit into
very small memory requirements. In addition, real-time performance was a top priority. Highly optimized
code for context switches and interrupt handling is used to ensure rapid response times.
The MQX RTOS offers multithreading technology with its advanced POSIX-compatible task scheduling,
thread operation, and modern message-passing micro-kernel design. The most successful products are
the ones that can adapt quickly to meet market needs. Thats why you need a flexible dynamic RTOS like
MQX.
The MQX RTOS component-based architecture lets you extend a full-function RTOS core with additional,
optional services. MQX includes 25 components eight are core, and 17 are optional.

The MQX RTOS has been tested on embedded microprocessor architectures such as Freescales
ColdFire and Power Architecture architectures. Integration with Freescales CodeWarrior tools ensures a
great out-of-box experience for MQX developers using these processor architectures.

PROVEN IN MILLIONS OF SHIPPED UNITS

Your applications stability, your product revenues, and ultimately your company depend on the reliability
of the RTOS that you choose. The MQX RTOS is field proven in mission-critical areas such as avionics,
aerospace, medical electronics, and data communications. The MQX RTOS is capable of meeting the
most demanding requirements. Leading companies have used MQX products to bring their products to
market for years. MQX has been used in thousands of embedded designs and deployed in millions of
fielded units. The MQX RTOS has been used in medical products that require FDA certification and
avionics applications that require DO-178B certfication.

SMALL CONFIGURABLE MEMORY FOOTPRINT

MQX is implemented as a C library including optimized assembly code for context switching and interrupt
handling. Only the features used by the application are included in the image downloaded onto the target.
The MQX RTOS can be configured to take as little as 10 KB of ROM for ColdFire applications, including
kernel, interrupts, semaphores, queues and memory manager.

REAL-TIME PERFORMANCE
In most embedded systems applications need to respond to external events very quickly. All time-critical
services are optimized for speed and determinism. The MQX RTOS is re-entrant (including interrupt
service routines), letting it react quickly and be responsive to external events. Context switch and interrupt
routines are optimized for each supported processor architecture. The MQX RTOS also provides a very
fast boot sequence to ensure the application is running almost instantly after the hardware has been
reset.
The MQX RTOS delivers the performance that demanding customers have come to expect in leading
RTOS solutions. For example, on a 200 MHz Power Architecture, MPC8248, benchmarks measure on
real hardware showed that MQX RTOS interrupt latency is a mere 0.331 sec and context switch time
was benchmarked at 0.558 sec.

TASK AWARE DEBUGGING PLUG-IN

MQX RTOSs Task Aware Debugging plug-in provides users with visibility of information into the
application tasks and key RTOS data. This includes such data as task templates, task queues,
semaphores, lightweight semaphores, mutexes, events, message queues, message pools, partitions,
user memory blocks, system memory blocks, names, the kernel data structure, the MQX initialization
structure, interrupt handlers, and the kernel log.
In addition, the Check for Errors function summarizes the results of common application errors, such as
exhausting a memory pool, and presents this information in a single window. Having access to this
summary, and all other information available this plug-in offers, directly in the IDE greatly aids any
developer in the debugging of their application. The Task Aware Debugging Plug-in is available for
CodeWarrior, IAR, Keil, and ARM DS-5 Development Tools.

PROCESSOR AND BOARD SUPPORT PACKAGES

The MQX RTOS is currently supported on a full range of leading 32-bit embedded processors, including
Kinetis, ColdFire, and Power Architecture processors from Freescale Semiconductor. Custom Board
Support Packages for your own hardware can be provided as well.

Device drivers provide control of external peripherals or events. MQX RTOS board support packages
supply drivers for Ethernet, HDLC, I2C, SPI, CANBus, flash memory, UARTs, disk controllers, Compact
Flash, PCI and many devices. MQX includes specific features that simplify the development and
integration of your own device drivers. Device driver source code is provided with an MQX BSP.