Infinite Loop Programming Demerits for Complex Application
For simple applications such as temperature control of a room, power consumption monitoring of a device etc, infinite loop programming is absolutely good in this scenario. But if infinite loop programming is used in a more complex applications where multiple tasks/events occurs and each have different level of priority then the use of infinite loop programming fail tremendously. Although interrupts can be utilized to cater the asynchronous events but this does not solve the problem to a greater extent because it will lead Interrupt Service Routine to run longer which would block the infinite loop execution.
The polling in the bare metal programming leads to wastage of processing cycles. The processor waits for a flag or events to trigger by polling or checking the bit continuously in that duration processor is doing nothing productive but wasting its resources. However it is uncertainly possible that in that particular instant an interrupt occurs and processor then executes that events/tasks.
For IOT products in which microcontrollers have to establish connection to the internet and transfers the data and status of the machine or process to the user or client via internet and receives the instructions or commands from the client or user via internet to execute those commands to produce the desirable output. Further the nodes have to communicate with each other to maintain the desirable output of the process. This is quite complex application and different protocols are to be implemented and executed to achieve the functionality of IOT products. Therefore infinite loop programming is not suitable for embedded system programming for IOT products.
Real Time Operating System to Cater IOT Programming Complexity
Real Time Kernel, in simple words, is a software which performs resource management, inter-task communication, synchronization etc. It usually come as a set of libraries that can be used to program the embedded system. It basically divides the application code into number of tasks or threads can be performed on a priority based in a timely fashion. Although single processor can perform only one task at a time but it creates an illusion of multi-tasking or multi threading with the help scheduler. It basically schedules or switches the CPU between different tasks so that it appears the CPU is performing multitasks. Other than that it provides modularity, readability, maintainability, code efficiency, easier testing to your application.
Reasons for Selection of FreeRTOS for IOT
There are many Real Time Operating Systems available in the market, then what makes FreeRTOS so different to be chosen for internet of things. Lets discuss it comprehensively,
Nowadays many IOT products and solutions are being launched by many startups and big giant companies as well. If you opt for commercial RTOS other than FreeRTOS for your product then you will have to pay for its license which would increase the product cost. On the other hand, FreeRTOS is an open source RTOS which can be used in your product without paying any penny for its license and you can commercialize your product as well. Thus, the cost of your final product will get reduced that make your product more competitive in the growing market of IOT.
The nodes in IOT are constrained devices which have low processing power, ROM, RAM etc. One problem that arises is Real Time Operating System needs to use constrained devices' resources for its storage and processing which leads to an overhead for these devices. To solve this issue FreeRTOS uses as minimum resources as possible to cause lower storage and processing overhead. Usually 6 Kilo Bytes to 12 Kilo Bytes are utilized for RTOS kernel.
Despite being an open source software, FreeRTOS provides all such standard features as provided by in the commercial RTOS. This includes multitasking, flexible task priority assignment, task notification, queues, semaphores, mutexes, event groups, and much more. All these features make your coding efficient and manageable. It provides a good control to achieve your targeted functions in your product easily.
For beginners who want to learn Internet of Things and has a burning desire to develop an IOT products or to provide IOT solutions to start their career in the internet of things, FreeRTOS is ideal for them. It provides you with learning support and strong community. A well written article to describe every skill in an incredible and comprehensive way, which you need to master FreeRTOS. You can read that article from here.
