Parts of a Real-Time Development Setup
- Updated2023-02-17
- 2 minute(s) read
Parts of a Real-Time Development Setup
A real-time system includes hardware and software components that enable precise control over the execution of your code. You use a PC to develop code for a real-time system.
The following figure shows a basic setup for developing a real-time application.
- Development PC—The PC manages connections between devices in the system and provides a graphical environment to create and edit real-time code. When code runs on a real-time controller, you can use the PC as the user interface to modify VI panels and view data from the controller.
- Real-time controller—A real-time controller runs a Linux real-time operating system and software that allows you to set precise timing directives and deterministic execution for real-time code. The real-time controller can also provide precise timing when communicating with FPGAs and I/O hardware. For example, if you need a set of FPGAs to each perform a unique data processing task in a particular order, you can use a real-time controller to communicate directly with the FPGAs to guarantee that each FPGA in the sequence receives instructions at a precise time.
- Real-time system—A real-time system includes the chassis, real-time controller, and other modules in the chassis. You establish a connection between the real-time system and the development PC to access the real-time controller and other modules in the chassis.
- Network connection—A PC and a real-time system must connect to the same network so the PC and real-time controller can communicate with each other. Over this network connection, the PC deploys code to the real-time controller and acts as a live graphical user interface for the real-time controller.
Related Information
- Introduction to Real-Time Operating Systems
A real-time operating system (RTOS) enables a real-time system to run applications that require precise timing or high reliability. Rather than distributing processor resources evenly between running tasks, an RTOS can guarantee precise timing and high reliability because it manages the execution of tasks based on the priority assigned to each task.
- Determinism and Jitter in a Real-Time System
Determinism is the characteristic that describes how consistently a system executes tasks within a time constraint.
- Connecting to a Real-Time Controller
You must establish a network connection from the host PC to a real-time controller in the Live view of SystemDesigner before you can run code on the controller.