OSEK/VDX is an operating system standard of the European automobile industry. Therefore, it is especially made for applications that require a minimum amount of memory and CPU time. You can find the original specifications at
www.osek-vdx.org.
NOTE:
OSEK/VDX is a registered trademark of Siemens AG.
Overview of the OSEK/VDX standards:
OSEK/VDX defines several services in addition to the operating systems standard itself.
The specifications OS, NM and COM describe the operating system, the network management and the data exchange. These three standards are completely independent and can be used individually as well as combined with each other.
The standards OIL and ORTI were created for an improved and more consistent handling of the operating system. Modistarc is the description of a conformity test.
Functional Standards:
- OSEK/VDX-OS: OSEK/VDX is a preemptive multitasking operating system. It is defined as a static operating system to reach an optimized usage of cpu time and hardware resources. The detailed functions are described in the osCAN product description.
- OSEK/VDX-NM: the network management is mainly made for applications in the automobile. The main task is the coordinated and synchronized transfer of all bus nodes from sleep mode to normal mode and vice versa. Thus it is not necessary to set the CAN bus to sleep mode and do the wake up manually. You can find further information at the CANbedded pages.
- OSEK/VDX-COM: this standard describes the data exchange between tasks and ISR. These can run either on a target platform or they can exchange data over a network. The data exchange within the target hardware is always included in the osCAN delivery because this is a basic mechanism also for stand-alone applications. You can find further information about the data exchange with CAN at the CANbedded pages.
Supporting Standards:
- OIL: OSEK Implementation Language. OSEK/VDX is a static operating system, therefore a definition of the used system objects is required before compiling. To guarantee the portability between different implementations, a standard format is needed which describes the objects. Almost all latest operating system implementations are offering graphical configuration tools that enable a comfortable handling of the OIL files.
- Modistarc: this is not a standard, but a study that describes a suite for testing the compatibility of the different implementations with the standard.
- ORTI: the OSEK Run Time Interface describes the interface between operating system and emulator. So the emulators can offer OSEK awareness for different suppliers of operating systems.
ISO Standardization
Some parts of OSEK are standardised by ISO. The official ISO number is ISO 17356.
ISO 17356 consists of the following parts:
- OSEK Glossary (located in OSEK Binding 1.4.1, part of ISO 17356-1, which consists of a ISO-style introduction and the glossary)
- OSEK Binding Specification (base: OSEK Binding 1.4.1, ISO 17356-2 with exception of the glossary)
- OSEK OS (base: OSEK OS 2.2.1, ISO 17356-3)
- OSEK COM (base: OSEK COM 3.0.2, ISO 17356-4)
- OSEK NM (base: OSEK NM 2.5.2, 17356-5)
- OSEK OIL (base: OIL 2.4.1, ISO 17356-6)
All ISO 17356 parts are officially published by ISO.
The following versions on the OSEK website are technically identical with the respective ISO versions:
- Binding Specification 1.4.2
- OS 2.2.2
- COM 3.0.3
- NM 2.5.3
- OIL 2.5
For more detail you can look at the
Architecture of an ISO17356 standards compliant operating system.
Wiki