Multiprogramming a 64 kB Computer Safely and Efficiently

Amit Levy, Daniel B. Giffin, Bradford Campbell, Pat Pannuto, Philip Levis, Branden Ghena, Prabal Dutta

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

90 Scopus citations

Abstract

Low-power microcontrollers lack some of the hardware features and memory resources that enable multiprogrammable systems. Accordingly, microcontroller-based operating systems have not provided important features like fault isolation, dynamic memory allocation, and flexible concurrency. However, an emerging class of embedded applications are software platforms, rather than single purpose devices, and need these multiprogramming features. Tock, a new operating system for low-power platforms, takes advantage of limited hardware-protection mechanisms as well as the type-safety features of the Rust programming language to provide a multiprogramming environment for microcontrollers. Tock isolates software faults, provides memory protection, and efficiently manages memory for dynamic application workloads written in any language. It achieves this while retaining the dependability requirements of long-running applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationSOSP 2017 - Proceedings of the 26th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages234-251
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9781450350853
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 14 2017
Externally publishedYes
Event26th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, SOSP 2017 - Shanghai, China
Duration: Oct 28 2017Oct 31 2017

Publication series

NameSOSP 2017 - Proceedings of the 26th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles

Other

Other26th ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles, SOSP 2017
Country/TerritoryChina
CityShanghai
Period10/28/1710/31/17

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computational Theory and Mathematics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Software

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