SYSGO PikeOS hypervisor virtualizes European Space Agency IMA4Space project
NewsApril 29, 2013
MAINZ, GERMANY. SYSGO has announced that its PikeOS certified Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) ran on the LEON platform of the recently completed IMA4Space project. The IMA4Space project, a program established by the European Space Agency (ESA) to define a Time and Space Partitioning (TSP) solutions for space equipment, focused on the implementation of an Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) system to reduce the amount of electronics in future space applications.
IMA4Space focused on the implementation of the IMA-SP platform, a hardware system that controls application resources through TSP. Using an ARINC-653-compliant PikeOS subset from SYSGO built into the same platform node as the ESA’s Real-Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems (RTEMS) RTOS, the IMA4Space project created a “TSP Abstraction Layer” (TSAL) for the LEON2/MMU and LEON3/MMU targets and their simulators.
In addition to safe execution of multiple software applications on one hardware platform, the TSP features integrated into the IMA-SP enabled increased software reliability and segregation of high/low criticality functions, improved efficiency of software validation and qualification, and reduced software integration effort.
“The safe and secure virtualization capability of PikeOS was already used in a previous and related ESA project, SecPar,” says Jacques Brygier, VP Marketing of SYSGO. “The fact that PikeOS is addressing both safety and security requirements, combined with its flexibility, makes it a valuable solution to address space requirements.”
The IMA4Space consortium includes SYSGO, Astrium, GTD, GMV, Spacebel, Scisys, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, and Thales Alenia Space. A PDF outlining the IMA4Space program is available at http://osmphp.s3.amazonaws.com/IMA4Space.pdf. More on the Sysgo PikeOS can be found at http://www.sysgo.com/products/pikeos-rtos-and-virtualization-concept/.
