Synopsys ARC MQX RTOS

Synopsys ARC® MQX RTOS software has helped leading companies bring embedded products to market for over 20 years. The ARC MQX RTOS solution offers a highly optimized application development platform designed for speed and size efficiency, with optimized support for all Synopsys ARC processors. A wide range of 3rd party middleware is available from members of the ARC Access for TCP/IP stacks, file systems, and Bluetooth protocols.

The ARC MQX RTOS solution includes full source code and offers many comprehensive features that support reliability, deterministic performance, reconfiguration, and multiprocessing. The scalable design allows MQX users to pick the components and features they require from MQX and prevents unused features from being included in the RTOS memory footprint. With code size as low as 3.8 KB, the MQX RTOS solution is small enough to replace a home-grown scheduler while still providing a much more comprehensive feature set.

Size-critical applications can use the MetaWare Automatic Overlay Manager (AOM), even in a multi-tasking environment, since MQX has specific support for AOM built-in.

With MQX's function-level scalability, all API functions outside of the central core are only included in the linked image if they are explicitly called by the application. This, along with dozens of compile-time configuration options (also grouped into sets), gives the application developer maximum control over the memory footprint of MQX.

Use the MQX RTOS Instead of a Scheduler

MQX RTOS is small enough to replace a home-grown scheduler, while still providing a much more comprehensive feature set.

Architecture	Minimum code size*	Context switch time
ARC HS Family	3.8 KB	105 cycles
ARC EM Family	3.8 KB	90 cycles
ARC 600 Family	4.0 KB	115 cycles
ARC 700 Family	4.1 KB	170 cycles

*Includes interrupt handler, scheduler, memory manager, micro-kernel, task management, time management, processor and board support package.

All measurements performed on FPGA platforms, each core configured with 256 ICCM and DCCM. Context switch definition: time required to save a current tasks context and restore context of highest priority task ready to run.

MQX RTOS Processor and Board Support

The ARC MQX RTOS is available for the full range of Synopsys ARC 600, ARC 700, ARC EM, and ARC HS processors. End-users can easily configure the MQX RTOS to support any configuration.

Board Support Packages (BSPs) are available for the ARC EM Starter Kit, ARC Software Development Platform and the HAPS Prototyping System. MQX also runs on the ARC nSIM Instruction Set Simulator. Users can easily modify MQX RTOS BSPs to support changes in the user's Synopsys ARC-based SoC configuration.

MQX Aware Debugging

MQX Task Aware Debugging (TAD) for MetaWare - Integrated into the MetaWare Debugger, TAD provides intimate details of the embedded system, giving visibility into MQX's data structures via easy-to-understand displays. You can view task summaries, the state of individual tasks, and details on queues, messages, semaphores, memory and memory partitions; full access to all MQX data through easy-to-understand displays!