Space Qualified RTEMS

Wed Jan 25 12:24:35 UTC 2012

Hi Lee,

I am using RTEMS 4.10 tailored by Aeroflex-Gaisler for Nomad instrument 
in Exo-Mars mission. It runs with a "SPARC/Leon3 FT" processor (at 25 Mhz)
Also, I'm using Pender GR-CPCI-AX2000.

ESA ,so far has not complained of this configuration.

Saludos Rafael.

> Hi Lee,
>
> I am using RTEMS for the ESA project BepiColombo, a scientific 
> instrument (Laser Altimeter) using the SPARC/Leon3 processor.
> Until today, nobody from ESA complained about that I'm using the 
> RTEMS-4.10 branch, provided by Aeroflex-Gaisler 
> http://www.gaisler.com. This is a bit behind the actual versions from 
> rtems.org. I'm using it with 2-3 (non-critical) bug-fixes and I'm 
> quite happy with RTEMS.
>
> Regards, Rolf.
>
> PS: I hope, that I'm not "waking up sleeping dogs" with this posting ;)
>
>
> On 25.01.2012 10:51, Matthews, Lee wrote:
>> Thomas, Cláudio,
>>
>> Thank you for your feedback. Thomas you note that the RTEMS community 
>> has contributed to many space missions. Could you please give me some 
>> examples of any previous (or upcoming) missions that use RTEMS, 
>> particularly version 4.10. This will give me an idea of heritage and 
>> provide me with some leverage if ever ESA decides to try and force 
>> version 4.8 upon us.
>>
>> Thanks again.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>> Lee
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rtems-users-bounces-WKV1R6NGPIzYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org 
>> [mailto:rtems-users-bounces-WKV1R6NGPIzYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org] 
>> On Behalf Of Thomas Doerfler
>> Sent: 24 January 2012 17:13
>> To: rtems-users-WKV1R6NGPIzYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org
>> Subject: Re: Space Qualified RTEMS
>>
>> Hi Lee, hi all,
>>
>> First of all: the RTEMS commmunity is proud to have contributed to so
>> many space missions. AFAIK at least the NASA projects had returned their
>> share of code improvement to RTEMS, which is a benefit to all future
>> users (including future NASA missions).
>>
>> Your set of questions significantly emphasises the problem with those
>> "pull everything, commit nothing" projects like the ESA "space
>> qualified" RTEMS kernel.
>>
>> It is nice and vital for the ESA space community to have a qualified
>> RTOS, which also supports the space specific platforms like ERC32/LEON.
>> But those "read-only" activities are all prone to severe bit rot.
>>
>> Since RTEMS 4.8, there were severe improvements to the system:
>> - many bugs were identified and eliminated
>> - new features were added
>> - support for up-to-date hardware was added (and this is what you ask
>> for in your mail)
>> - siginificant activities were launched to improve code quality, like
>> extensions to the test sets, automated code coverage analysis and 
>> others.
>>
>> You will not have access to these improvements, because the "space
>> qualified" RTEMS has not been merged back into the main RTEMS 
>> repository.
>>
>> -------------------------
>>
>> I have a scenario in mind:
>>
>> - Let's say that during a certain test configuration late in the
>> development cycle, my system will fail
>>
>> - the reason for the failure can be tracked down to an OS bug (which is
>> unlikely, but may happen in every piece of software)
>>
>> - I or my colleagues will find out that the bug has long been identified
>> and fixed in RTEMS
>>
>> - but I am using a "space qualified" version of RTEMS, which has the bug
>> still in it...
>>
>> ... this would really bother me. Almost every software has minor bugs.
>> But using an old release of a software, which, due to the develpoment
>> model selected, does not care about improvements and fixes in the main
>> source tree may be regarded rather careless...
>> -------------------------
>>
>> What I really long to see is to have these space qualification related
>> modifications to RTEMS be integrated back into the main RTEMS
>> repository, because that's how Open Source software works:
>>
>> If all users share their OS software knowledge, every user can partake
>> in the whole collected knowledge.
>>
>> Just my two cents,
>>
>> Thomas.
>>
>>
>> Am 24.01.2012 16:41, schrieb Matthews, Lee:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm developing software that uses RTEMS on an Aeroflex Gaisler LEON3FT
>>> processor that is running on a Pender GR-CPCI-AX2000 development board.
>>> I am using version 4.10 of RTEMS and RCC 1.1.99.19.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> We are working on producing a Magnetometer instrument that will be
>>> integrated into ESA's upcoming Solar Orbiter mission to the Sun. We
>>> shall be using RTEMS on our Leon3FT CPU. Having just gone through ESA's
>>> Preliminary Design Review process, it has been highlighted by ESA that
>>> there is a space qualified version of RTEMS available, though this is
>>> currently based on version 4.8 of the kernel. I believe this is being
>>> developed by the company Edisoft (http://rtemscentre.edisoft.pt).**
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I have a few questions about this :
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 1)  Does anyone know what the difference is exactly between a 
>>> "standard"
>>> and a "space qualified" version of RTEMS ?
>>>
>>> 2)  Assuming that we were to use the space qualified RTEMS 4.8 kernel,
>>> would we still be able to use Aeroflex Gaisler's BSP (RCC 1.1.99.19) ?
>>>
>>> 3)  Would Aeroflex Gaisler's BSP also need to be space qualified ?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best wishes,
>>>
>>> Lee Matthews
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> rtems-users mailing list
>>> rtems-users-WKV1R6NGPIzYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org
>>> http://www.rtems.org/mailman/listinfo/rtems-users
>>
>>
>
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