This book deals with the fundamentals of operating systems for use in real-time embedded systems. It is aimed at those who wish to develop RTOS-based designs, using either commercial or free products. It does not set out to give you the knowledge to design an RTOS; leave that to the specialists.The target readership includes:- Students.- Engineers, scientists and mathematicians moving into software systems.- Professional and experienced software engineers entering the embedded field.- Programmers having little or no formal education in the underlying principles of software-based real-time systems.The material covers the key ‘nuts and bolts’ of RTOS structures and usage (as you would expect, of course). In many cases it shows how these are handled by practical real-time operating systems. After studying this even the absolute beginner will see that it isn’t particularly difficult to implement RTOS-based designs and should be confident to take on such work.Now, that’s the easy part; the really challenging aspect is how to best structure the application software in the first place. If your design is poorly-structured then, no matter which RTOS you use, you are very likely to run into problems of reliability, performance, safety and maintainability. Hence the book places great emphasis on ways to structure the application software so that it can be effectively implemented using an RTOS.The author: Jim Cooling has had many years experience in the area of real-time embedded systems, including electronic, software and system design, project management, consultancy, education and course development. He has published extensively on the subject, his books covering many aspects of embedded-systems work such as real-time interfacing, programming, software design and software engineering.