Want to know the advantages and disadvantages of real time operating system? Read to know the 3 important pros and cons of RTOSs.
Discipline and productivity are directly proportional to the accurate time table, no? So the real time operating system is the system that ensures proper and precise timing in applications.
Anything comes with its own pros and cons, similarly the real time operating system has its many advantages as well as the disadvantages. By the way, to me the disadvantages of RTOSs are somehow trivial as far as it is providing reliability and enhancing the efficiency of the applications.
Anyways, it’s important for everyone to know all the advantages and disadvantages of real time operating system, before investing your money to buy it. So without further ado let’s dive in!
What is real time operating system?
If I would ever be asked to explain real time operating system in 3 words, it would be;
- Immediately
- Quickly
- Deadline
Now the real time operating system is just a system that ensures that processing in an application should take place within the time constraint, it should occur within the exact strict deadline which is demanded.
RTOSs are specifically made for those applications that don’t afford any delay, and that demands processing within milliseconds.
Now the real time operating system are not much different than the other systems e.g.
But they are specifically designed to monitor if the scheduler in an application is working in a correct manner or not.
Real time operating system advantages and disadvantages
Every system comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, right? And we all know that compared to other Operating systems, RTOSs are really lightweight and are very fast and responsive.
And due to their high responsiveness and safety standards, they are widely used in critical systems and applications.
But if RTOSs provide unlimited benefits, they do possess some cons too. So it’s time for us to take a deep look at the advantages and disadvantages of real time operating system.
#3 Advantages of real time operating system
Foreseeable:
Real Time operating systems are responsive enough that its users can easily foresee that it will work efficiently within the deadline. For example; in a car we see air bags system during an accident or any emergency situation to rescue or save the front seated passengers from intense head injury.
Now, the passengers predict and foresee the air bags system during an accident, and we can see that there is no room for any delay in this whole process.
Reliable:
We can’t doubt the reliability of real time time operating systems, as this is the first and the foremost trait that they possess. We see that all the operating systems and applications have bugs in them and sometimes they do crash too.
But RTOSs are made in a way that they can’t be crashed no matter what, they ensure complete responsiveness of the application within the time limit without having any bugs or errors unlike the other operating systems.
Highly Efficient:
Without putting extra load onto the device or application, they work in an efficient manner. I’ve seen many extra efficient operating systems putting extra load onto the device which results in damaging the application by reducing its battery life or results in other malfunctions like hanging error and whatnot.
But the real time operating system has surpassed the expectations of users by being a highly efficient system without putting extra load over the application.
#3 Disadvantages of real time operating system
RTOSs Are Complex:
You will not be able to easily set up this operating system in your device or application unless you are a programmer or know the basics of programming.
I am myself not able to do advanced or high level programming but I’m familiar with the basics, so using a real time operating system doesn’t cause much trouble to me.
Similarly if you are familiar with the basics or capable of following the online tutorials, then it would be fine, otherwise you would need help from any professional.
Expensiveness:
Unlike other operating systems, RTOSs are made for just specific applications where a deadline can’t be neglected in any way, so for that both the software and hardware should be different and made specifically for those applications where there is a need for a real time operating system.
In this way, using a real time operating system can be expensive and everyone can’t be able to afford that.
Limitation
Unlike other operating systems, we all know RTOSs are highly efficient in performing the specific task they are required to do.
Now in this way what happens is their efficiency becomes limited to only that specific task that they are required to do, they won’t be able to perform multiple tasks like other operating systems.
So this can be a huge con of a real time operating system that even being highly expensive they won’t entertain any other task.
Bottom Line
Real time Operating systems are just made for those applications that require processing instantly within nanoseconds.
There is no doubt that RTOSs perform their functions efficiently without having any bugs or errors but still just like any other operating system they do have their own pros and cons, which we discussed above in detail.
I hope you’ll find the above-mentioned 3 advantages and disadvantages of real time operating system useful. Just remember one thing, no doubt RTOSs are expensive and are less flexible, but this doesn’t mean they’ve failed in fulfilling their purpose, they are highly efficient and reliable.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS)
What are the advantages of real-time operating system?
Real time operating systems perform tasks highly efficiently without causing delay of even a millisecond, So, the most important and the crucial advantage of real time operating systems is, that they are highly efficient in managing and performing multiple tasks within a restricted time constraint.
What are the disadvantages of real-time operating system?
Real time operating systems are highly complex to set up and run on your application. Not just that but they are also more expensive than the other operating systems. And you can’t expect them to perform multiple tasks as they are made for efficiently performing just a few tasks.
What are the 4 main types of operating system?
First of all Real Time Operating System, secondly Single User, Single-Tasking OS, thirdly Single User, Multi-Tasking Operating System and fourthly Multi-User OS.