VxWorks is a
real-time operating system (or RTOS) developed as
proprietary software by
Wind River Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aptiv. First released in 1987, VxWorks is designed for use in
embedded systems requiring real-time, deterministic performance and, in many cases, safety and security certification for industries such as aerospace and defense, medical devices, industrial equipment, robotics, energy, transportation, network infrastructure, automotive, and consumer electronics.
[VxWorks]
Goes 64-bit", Electronic Design, March 25, 2011
VxWorks supports AMD/Intel architecture, POWER architecture, ARM architectures
and RISC-V.
The RTOS can be used in multicore
asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP),
symmetric multiprocessing
Symmetric multiprocessing or shared-memory multiprocessing (SMP) involves a multiprocessor computer hardware and software architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single, shared main memory, have full access to all ...
(SMP), and mixed modes
[RTOS](_blank)
Handles AMP and SMP, electronic design, March 2009 and multi-OS (via Type 1 hypervisor)
designs on
32- and
64-bit processors.
[Embedded Star](_blank)
Article, February 2011
VxWorks comes with the kernel, middleware, board support packages, Wind River Workbench development suite and complementary third-party software and hardware technologies. In its latest release, VxWorks 7, the RTOS has been re-engineered for modularity and upgradeability so the OS kernel is separate from middleware, applications and other packages.
[Wind River](_blank)
reinvents real-time system for the Internet of Things, iTERS news, March 2014 Scalability, security, safety, connectivity, and graphics have been improved to address
Internet of Things
The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...
(IoT) needs.
[Wind Rive]
Reinvents
the RTOS for the IoT, Business Wire, February 2014
History
VxWorks started in the late 1980s as a set of enhancements to a simple
RTOS called
VRTX sold by Ready Systems (becoming a
Mentor Graphics
Siemens EDA is a US-based electronic design automation (EDA) multinational corporation for electrical engineering and electronics, headquartered in Wilsonville, Oregon. Founded in 1981 as Mentor Graphics, the company was acquired by Siemens in ...
product in 1995). Wind River acquired rights to distribute VRTX and significantly enhanced it by adding, among other things, a
file system and an
integrated development environment. In 1987, anticipating the termination of its reseller contract by
Ready Systems, Wind River developed its own kernel to replace VRTX within VxWorks.
Published in 2003 with a Wind River copyright, "Real-Time Concepts for Embedded Systems"
[
]
describes the development environment, runtime setting, and system call families of the RTOS.
Written by Wind River employees with a foreword by Jerry Fiddler, chairman, and co-founder of Wind River, the textbook is an excellent tutorial on the RTOS. (It does not, however, replace Wind River documentation as might be needed by practicing engineers.)
VxWorks key milestones are:
[Company Histories](_blank)
Funding Universe
* 1980s: VxWorks adds support for 32-bit processors.
* 1990s: VxWorks 5 becomes the first RTOS with a networking stack.
* 2000s: VxWorks 6 supports
SMP
SMP may refer to:
Organisations
* Scale Model Products, 1950s, acquired by Aluminum Model Toys
* School Mathematics Project, UK developer of mathematics textbooks
* '' Sekolah Menengah Pertama'', "junior high school" in Indonesia
* Shanghai Mun ...
and adds derivative industry-specific platforms.
* 2010s: VxWorks adds support for 64-bit processing
and introduces VxWorks 7 for IoT in 2016.
[Wind Rive]
Outfits VxWorks
for the Internet of Things, Computer World
*2020s: VxWorks continues to update and add support, including the ability to power the
Mars 2020 lander.
Platform overview
VxWorks supports Intel architecture, Power architecture, and ARM architectures.
The RTOS can be used in multi-core
asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP),
symmetric multiprocessing
Symmetric multiprocessing or shared-memory multiprocessing (SMP) involves a multiprocessor computer hardware and software architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single, shared main memory, have full access to all ...
(SMP), mixed modes
and multi-OS (via Type 1 hypervisor)
designs on 32- and 64- bit processors.
The VxWorks consists of a set of runtime components and development tools. The run time components are an
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
(UP and SMP; 32- and 64-bit), software for applications support (file system, core network stack, USB stack, and inter-process communications), and hardware support (architecture adapter, processor support library, device driver library, and board support packages).
VxWorks core development tools are compilers such as Diab, GNU, and Intel C++ Compiler (ICC)) and its build and configuration tools. The system also includes productivity tools such as its Workbench development suite and Intel tools and development support tools for asset tracking and host support.
The platform is a modular, vendor-neutral,
open system that supports a range of third-party software and hardware. The OS kernel is separate from middleware, applications, and other packages,
which enables easier bug fixes and testing of new features.
An implementation of a layered source build system allows multiple versions of any stack to be installed at the same time so developers can select which version of any feature set should go into the VxWorks kernel libraries.
Optional advanced technology for VxWorks provides add-on technology-related capabilities, such as:
* Advanced security features to safeguard devices and data residing in and traveling across the Internet of Things (IoT)
* Advanced safety partitioning to enable reliable application consolidation
* Real-time advanced visual edge analytics allow autonomous responses on VxWorks-based devices in real-time without latency
* Optimized embedded Java runtime engine enabling the deployment of Java applications
* Virtualization capability with a real-time embedded, Type 1 hypervisor
Features
A list of some of the features of the OS are:
*
Multitasking kernel with
preemptive and
round-robin scheduling and fast
interrupt response
* Native 64-bit operating system (only one 64-bit architecture supported:
x86-64). Data model:
LP64.
* User-mode applications ("Real-Time Processes", or RTP) isolated from other user-mode applications as well as the kernel via
memory protection mechanisms.
*
SMP
SMP may refer to:
Organisations
* Scale Model Products, 1950s, acquired by Aluminum Model Toys
* School Mathematics Project, UK developer of mathematics textbooks
* '' Sekolah Menengah Pertama'', "junior high school" in Indonesia
* Shanghai Mun ...
,
AMP and mixed mode multiprocessing support
* Error handling framework
*
Bluetooth,
USB, CAN protocols, Firewire IEEE 1394, BLE, L2CAP, Continua stack, health device profile
* Binary, counting, and
mutual exclusion semaphores with
priority inheritance
* Local and distributed
message queues
*
POSIX PSE52 certified conformity in user-mode execution environment
*
File systems: High Reliability File System (HRFS),
FAT-based file system (DOSFS),
Network File System (NFS), and TFFS
* Dual-mode IPv6 networking stack with IPv6 Ready Logo certification
* Memory protection including real-time processes (RTPs), error detection and reporting, and IPC
* Multi-OS messaging using TIPC and Wind River multi-OS IPC
* Symbolic debugging
In March 2014, Wind River introduced VxWorks 7, which emphasizes scalability, security, safety, connectivity, graphics, and virtualization.
[Wind River Reinvents th]
Real-Time Operating System for the Internet of Things
Windriver.com, The following lists some of the release 7 updates.
More information can be found on th
website.
* Modular, componentized architecture using a layered build system with the ability to update each layer of code independently
* VxWorks microkernel (a full RTOS that can be as small as 20 KB)
* Security features such as digitally-signed modules (X.509), encryption, password management, ability to add/delete users at runtime
* SHA-256 hashing algorithm as the default password hashing algorithm
* Human machine interface with Vector Graphics, and Tilcon user interface (UI)
* Graphical user interface (GUI): OpenVG stack, Open GL, Tilcon UI, Frame Buffer Driver, EV Dev Interface
* Updated configuration interfaces for VxWorks Source Build VSB projects and VxWorks Image Projects
* Single authentication control used for Telnet, SSH, FTP, and rlogin daemons
* Connectivity with Bluetooth and SocketCAN protocol stacks
* Inclusion of MIPC File System (MFS) and MIPC Network Device (MND)
* Networking features with 64-bit support including Wind River MACsec, Wind River's implementation of IEEE 802.1A, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) over L2TP, PPP over virtual local area network (VLAN) and Diameter secure key storage
* New Wind River Workbench 4 for VxWorks 7 integrated development environment with new system analysis tools
* Wind River Diab Compiler 5.9.4; Wind River GNU Compiler 4.8; Intel C++ Compiler 14 and Intel Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP) 8
Hardware support
VxWorks has been ported to a number of platforms and now runs on practically any modern CPU that is used in the embedded market. This includes the
Intel x86 family (including the
Intel Quark SoC),
[Intel Tackles SoC Wit]
Quark
' EE Times, October 7, 2013 MIPS,
PowerPC
PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple Inc., App ...
(and
BAE RAD),
Freescale ColdFire,
Intel i960,
SPARC,
Fujitsu FR-V The Fujitsu FR-V (Fujitsu RISC- VLIW) is one of the very few processors ever able to process both a very long instruction word (VLIW) and vector processor instructions at the same time, increasing throughput with high parallel computing while i ...
,
SH-4 and the closely related family of
ARM,
StrongARM and
xScale CPUs.
VxWorks provides a standard
board support package (BSP) interface between all its supported hardware and the OS. Wind River's BSP developer kit provides a common
application programming interface (API) and a stable environment for real-time operating system development. VxWorks is supported by popular
SSL/TLS
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The protocol is widely used in applications such as email, instant messaging, and voice over IP, but its use in securi ...
libraries such as
wolfSSL.
Development environment
As is common in
embedded system development,
cross-compiling is used with VxWorks. Development is done on a "host" system where an
integrated development environment (IDE), including the editor, compiler toolchain, debugger, and
emulator can be used. Software is then compiled to run on the "target" system. This allows the developer to work with powerful development tools while targeting more limited hardware. VxWorks uses the following host environments and target hardware architectures:
[Workbench Product Note](_blank)
/ref>
;Supported target architectures and processor families
VxWorks supports the following target architectures:
* ARM
* Intel architecture
* Power architecture
* RISC-V architecture
For the latest target architecture, processors and board support packages, refer to the VxWorks Marketplace: https://marketplace.windriver.com/index.php?bsp&on=locate&type=platform
The Eclipse-based Workbench IDE that comes with VxWorks is used to configure, analyze, optimize, and debug a VxWorks-based system under development. The ''Tornado'' IDE was used for VxWorks 5.x and was replaced by the Eclipse-based ''Workbench'' IDE for VxWorks 6.x. and later. Workbench is also the IDE for the Wind River Linux, On-Chip Debugging, and Wind River Diab Compiler product lines. VxWorks 7 uses Wind River Workbench 4 which updates to the Eclipse 4 base provides full third party plug-in support and usability improvements.
Wind River Simics is a standalone simulation tool compatible with VxWorks. It simulates the full target system (hardware and software) to create a shared platform for software development. Multiple developers can share a complete virtual system and its entire state, including execution history. Simics enables early and continuous system integration and faster prototyping by utilizing virtual prototypes instead of physical prototypes.
Notable uses
VxWorks is used by products across a wide range of market areas: aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial such as robots, consumer electronics, medical area and networking. Several notable products also use VxWorks as the onboard operating system.
Aerospace and defense
;Spacecraft
* The Mars 2020 rover
* The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter[ExtremeTech](_blank)
news
* The Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover
* NASA Mars rovers (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity)
* The Deep Space Program Science Experiment (DSPSE) also known as Clementine (spacecraft)
''Clementine'' (officially called the Deep Space Program Science Experiment (DSPSE)) was a joint space project between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (previously the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization) and NASA, launched o ...
Clementine launched in 1994 running VxWorks 5.1 on a MIPS-based CPU responsible for the Star Tracker and image processing algorithms. The use of a commercial RTOS on board a spacecraft was considered experimental at the time
* ''Phoenix'' Mars lander
* The Deep Impact space probe
* The Mars Pathfinder mission
* NASA's Juno space probe sent to Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandt ...
Aircraft
* AgustaWestland Project Zero
* Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System
* Airbus A400M Airlifter
* BAE Systems Tornado Advanced Radar Display Information System (TARDIS) used in the Tornado GR4 aircraft for the U.K. Royal Air Force
* Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel UAV
* Boeing 787
;Space telescopes
* Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope(FGST)
* James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Spa ...
;Others
* European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS)
* TacNet Tracker, Sandia National Laboratory’s rugged handheld communication device
* BAE Systems SCC500TM series of infrared camera cores
* Barco CDMS-3000 next generation control display and management system
Automotive
* Toshiba TMPV75 Series image recognition SoCs for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)
* Bosch Motor Sports race car telemetry system
* Hyundai Mobis IVI system
* Magneti Marelli's telemetry logger and GENIVI-compliant infotainment system
* BMW iDrive system after 2008
* Siemens VDO automotive navigation systems
* Most of Renault Trucks T, K and C trucks' electronic control units.
* European Volkswagen RNS 510 navigation systems.
Consumer electronics
* Apple Airport Extreme
*AMX NetLinx Controllers (NI-xx00/x00)
* Brother printers
* Drobo data storage robot
* Honda robot ASIMO
* Linksys WRT54G wireless routers (versions 5.0 and later)
* MacroSyste
Casablanca-2
digital video editor (Avio, Kron, Prestige, Claro, Renommee, Solitaire)
* Motorola'
DCT2500
interactive digital set-top box
* Mobile Technika MobbyTalk and MobbyTalk253 phones
* ReplayTV home digital video recorder
Industrial
;Industrial robots
* '' ABB'' industrial robots
* The C5G robotic project by Comau
* KUKA industrial robots
* Stäubli industrial robots
* Yaskawa Electric Corporation's industrial robots
* Comau Robotics SMART5 industrial robot
;Test and Measurement
* Teledyne LeCroy WaveRunner LT, WaveRunner2LT and WavePro 900 oscilloscope series
*Hexagon Metrology GLOBAL Silver coordinate measuring machine (CMM)
;Transportation
* FITSCO Automatic Train Protection (ATP)system
* Bombardier HMI410 Train Information System
;Controllers
* Bachmann M1 Controller System
* Invensys
Invensys Ltd. was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in 1999 through the merger of BTR plc and Siebe plc. It had offices in more than 50 countries and its produc ...
Foxboro PAC System
* National Instruments CompactRIO 901x, 902x 907x controllers
* Emerson distributed control system controllers
* AMX AMX may refer to:
Companies and finance
* AMX LLC, a manufacturer of commercial and residential control systems
* AMX index (Amsterdam Midkap Index), a stock market index of Euronext Amsterdam
* América Móvil (Mexican Stock Exchange ticker symbol ...
controls system devices-->
* The Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS)
* Bosch Rexroth
Bosch Rexroth AG is an engineering firm based in Lohr am Main in Germany. It is the result of a merger on 1 May 2001 between Mannesmann Rexroth AG and the Automation Technology Business Unit of Robert Bosch GmbH, and is a wholly owned subsidiar ...
Industrial Tightening Control Systems
* MCE iBox elevator controller
* Schneider Electric Industrial Controller
* B&R Automation Runtime
;Storage systems
* External RAID controllers designed by the LSI Corporation/Engenio prior to 2011, now designed by NetApp. And used in RDAC class arrays as NetApp E/EF Series and OEM arrays
* Fujitsu ETERNUS DX Sx family of unified data storage arrays
;Imaging
* '' Toshiba'' eBridge based range of photocopiers
;Others
* GrandMA Full-Size and Light Console by MA Lighting
Medical
* Varian Medical Systems Truebeam - a radiotherapy device for treating cancer
* Olympus Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of optics and reprography products. Olympus was established on 12 October 1919, initially specializing in microscopes and thermometers. Olympus holds roughly a 70-percent share of the global endoscope market, estimated ...
's surgical generator
* BD Biosciences FACSCount HIV/AIDS Monitoring System
* Fedegari Autoclavi S.p.A. Thema4 process controller
* Sirona Dental Systems: CEREC extraoral X-ray CAD/CAM systems
*General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
Healthcare: CT and MRI scanners.
* Carl Zeiss Meditec: Humphrey Field Analyzer HFA-II Series
*Philips C-Arm Radiology Equipment
Networking and communication infrastructure
* Arkoon Network Security appliances
* Ubee Interactive
Ubee Interactive manufactures and engineers fixed and mobile broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) for worldwide cable and telecommunications service providers. These service providers, also known as multiple system operators (MSOs), pro ...
's AirWalk EdgePoint
* Kontron's ACTA processor boards
* QQTechnologies's QQSG
* A significant portion of Huawei's telecoms equipment uses VxWorks
* BroadLight
BroadLight is a fabless semiconductor company which designs, manufactures and markets Fiber Access and embedded processors System-on-a-chip (SoC). Founded in 2000 by Ran Dror, David Levi, Haim Ben Amram, Didi Ivancovsky and Raanan Ivry, it i ...
’s GPON/PON products
* Shiron Satellite Communications’ InterSKY
* Sky Pilot's SkyGateway, SkyExtender and SkyControl
* EtherRaptor-1010 by Raptor Network Technology
* CPG-3000 and CPX-5000 routers from Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
* Nokia Solutions and Networks
Nokia Networks (formerly Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)) is a multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia Corp ...
FlexiPacket series microwave engineering product
* Acme Packet Net-Net series of Session Border Controllers
A session border controller (SBC) is a network element deployed to protect SIP based voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.
Early deployments of SBCs were focused on the borders between two service provider networks in a peering environm ...
* Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch 40x8 IP Deskphones
* Avaya ERS 8600
* Avaya IP400 Office
* Cisco CSS platform
* Cisco ONS platform
* Ciena Common Photonic Layer
* Dell PowerConnect switches that are 'powered by' Broadcom, except latest PCT8100 which runs on Linux platform
* Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Sweden, Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in ...
SmartEdge routers (SEOS 11 run NetBSD 3.0 and VxWorks for Broadcom BCM1480 version 5.5.1 kernel version 2.6)
* Hewlett Packard HP 9000 Superdome Guardian Service Processor
* Hirschmann EAGLE20 Industrial Firewall
* HughesNet/Direcway satellite internet modems
* Mitel Networks' MiVoice Business (formerly Mitel Communications Director (MCD)), 3300 ICP Media Gateways and SX-200 and SX-200 ICP.
* Motorola Solutions MCD5000 IP Deskset System
* Motorola SB5100 cable modem
* Motorola Cable Headend Equipment including SEM, NC, OM and other lines
* Nortel CS1000 PBX (formerly Nortel Meridian 1 (Option 11C, Option 61C, Option 81C)
* Nortel Passport
* Radware OnDemand Switches
* Samsung DCS and OfficeServ series PBX
* SonicWALL firewalls
* Thuraya SO-2510 satellite phone and ThurayaModule
* Radvision 3G communications equipment
* 3com NBX phone systems
* Zhone Technologies access systems
* Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
EAGLE STP system
TCP vulnerability and CVE patches
As of July 2019, a paper published by Armis exposed 11 critical vulnerabilities, including remote code execution, denial of service, information leaks, and logical flaws impacting more than two billion devices using the VxWorks RTOS. The findings are significant since this system is in use by quite a few mission-critical products. Thi
YouTube video
from Armis shows how an attacker can tunnel into an ''internal'' network using the vulnerability and hack into printers, laptops, and any other connected devices. The vulnerability can bypass firewalls as well.
Information and patches for all VxWorks versions affected by Urgent/11 vulnerability can be obtained from Wind River.
As of December 2021 there are still some CVEs documented on the NIST database.
Stale Data Retention
The Wind River VxWorks operating system is used on the Boeing 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10 aircraft. As of April 2, 2020, the US Federal Aviation Administration requires the operating system to be power-cycled, or turned off and on, every fifty-one (51) days. The reason for requiring the periodic reboot of the common core system (CCS) is that its failure when continuously powered could lead to a loss of the common data network (CDN) message age validation, which filters out stale data from key flight control displays. From the FAA Air Directive: "The potential loss of the stale-data monitoring function of the CCS when continuously powered on for 51 days, if not addressed, could result in erroneous flight-critical data being routed and displayed as valid data, which could reduce the ability of the flight crew to maintain the safe flight and landing of the airplane."
References
External links
*
{{Real-time operating systems
ARM operating systems
Embedded operating systems
Intel software
MIPS operating systems
PowerPC operating systems
Real-time operating systems
Robot operating systems
X86 operating systems