Create an RTX5 Project

The steps to create a microcontroller application using RTX5 are:

• Create a new project and select a microcontroller device.

• In the Manage Run-Time Environment window, select CMSIS::CORE and CMSIS::RTOS2 (API)::Keil RTX5. You can choose to either add RTX as a library (Variant: Library) or to add the full source code (Variant: Source - required if using the Event Recorder):

  
• If the Validation Output requires other components to be present, try to use the Resolve button.

• Click OK. In the Project window, you will see the files that have been automatically added to you project, such as RTX_Config.h, RTX_Config.c, the library or the source code files, as well as the system and startup files:

  
• If using the Variant: Source as stated above, you have to assure to use at least C99 compiler mode (Project Options -> C/C++ -> C99 Mode).

• You can add template files to the project by right-clicking on Source Group 1 and selecting Add New Item to 'Source Group 1'. In the new window, click on User Code Template. On the right-hand side you will see all available template files for CMSIS-RTOS RTX:

  
• Configure RTX5 to the application's needs using the RTX_Config.h file.

Additional requirements for RTX on Cortex-A

Cortex-A based microcontrollers are less unified with respect to the interrupt and timer implementations used compared to M-class devices. Thus RTX requires additional components when an A-class device is used, namely IRQ Controller (API) and OS Tick (API) implementations.

The default implementations provided along with CMSIS are

• Arm Generic Interrupt Controller (GIC)
• Arm Cortex-A5, Cortex-A9 Private Timer (PTIM)
• Arm Cortex-A7 Generic Physical Timer (GTIM)

For devices not implementing GIC, PTIM nor GTIM please refer to the according device family pack and select the proper implementations.

Using Interrupts on Cortex-M

On Cortex-M processors, the RTX5 kernel uses the following interrupt exceptions. The table below also lists the priorities that must be assigned to these interrupts.

Handler	Priority	Interrupt/Exception
SysTick	lowest	Kernel system timer interrupt to generate periodic timer ticks
PendSV	lowest	PendSV (request for system-level service) when calling certain RTX functions from Handler mode
SVC	lowest+1	Supervisor Call used to enter the RTOS kernel from Thread mode

Other device interrupts can be used without limitation. For Arm Cortex-M3/M4/M7 /M23/M33/M35P processors, interrupts are never disabled by RTX Kernel.

Usage of interrupt priority grouping

• The interrupt priority grouping should be configured using the CMSIS-Core function NVIC_SetPriorityGrouping before calling the function osKernelStart(). The RTX kernel uses the priority group value to setup the priority for SysTick and PendSV interrupts.
• The RTX kernel sets the priority for the interrupts/exceptions listed in above table and uses the lowest two priority levels.
• Do not change the priority used by the RTX kernel. If this cannot be avoided, ensure that the preempt priority of SysTick/PendSV is lower than SVC.
• Permitted priority group values are 0 to 6. The priority group value 7 will cause RTX to fail as there is only one priority level available.
• The main stack is used to run the RTX functionality. It is therefore required to configure sufficient stack for the RTX kernel execution.

Code Example

osKernelInitialize();                            // initialize RTX
NVIC_SetPriorityGrouping (3);                    // setup priority grouping
tread_id = osThreadNew(tread_func, NULL, NULL);  // create some threads
osKernelStart ();                                // start RTX kernel

Add support for RTX specific functions

If you require some of the RTX specific functions in your application code, #include the header file rtx_os.h. This enables low-power and tick-less operation modes.

Add Event Recorder Visibility

RTX5 interfaces to the Event Recorder to provide event information which helps you to understand and analyze the operation.

• To use the Event Recorder together with RTX5, select the software component Compiler:Event Recorder.

• Select the Source variant of the software component CMSIS:RTOS2 (API):Keil RTX5.

  

  Component selection for Event Recorder
• Enable the related settings under Event Recorder Configuration.
• Build the application code and download it to the debug hardware. Once the target application generates event information, it can be viewed in the µVision debugger using the Event Recorder.