Chapter 308 It's worth doing

"Control system and software?"

When Lin Hong heard Grandpa Xu's words, his heart couldn't help but move.

It is used to control machinery. It is generally an embedded operating system. This kind of system has one feature, that is, real-time, so usually, this kind of operating system is a real-time operating system. Compared with the popular time-sharing operating system on PCs or servers, real-time operating systems produce results. There are very strict regulations on time.

When external trigger conditions or data are generated, the real-time operating system must give a response, and this response must be completed within a specific time.

The real-time operating system is widely used in the fields of communication, industry, military, aviation and aerospace. Because the control systems in these fields must be real-time, once there is a delay, it will have disastrous consequences.

Of course, some relatively common control systems, such as Microsoft's wIndOWSNt and IBM's OS/390 also have some real-time operating system functions. But in general, they still can't be compared with operating systems specially designed to handle real-time tasks.

From Xu Zhizhong's words, it can be seen that China is not only backward in civilian use, but also has no relatively mature solution in the military field.

Thinking of this, Lin Hong asked several questions in detail, mainly the technical details of the real-time operating system.

Xu Zhizhong was also a little surprised that Lin Hong seemed to be very researched in this regard, and the few questions he asked were the difficulties they actually encountered in the process of doing the project.

"Xiao Hong, why are you so familiar with this area? Did you learn it abroad?

Lin Hong nodded: "Many basic knowledge has more systematic theories in foreign universities, and you can see these things in libraries. However, I am usually more interested in these things and have carried out some research. Grandpa Xu, when I come back to start a company this time, I plan to develop an operating system, and I have made some progress so far.

"Oh?" Xu Zhizhong was slightly surprised, "You still opened a company? It seems that you have learned a lot after going abroad for a few years.

He didn't pay much attention to the development of the operating system, but paid more attention to the matter of Lin Hong's company.

Lin Hong nodded: "It's opened in the provincial capital, and it's just starting now."

Xu Zhizhong continued to ask, "You don't go to school anymore?"

"Of course, continue." Sun Jingtai said at this time, "You don't know yet. Xiaohong got a champion in the whole province as soon as he came back this time."

"Oh? That's great!" Xu Zhizhong nodded, and he was a little relieved.

In his opinion, Lin Hong is still young. Continuing to work hard on scientific and cultural knowledge is the right way. There is no need to rush to open a company to make money.

"Grandpa Xu, did you study and write the core code of your control system by yourself?"

Xu Zhizhong nodded: "Yes, I dare not use other people's systems in this regard. Once something goes wrong, it will cause serious consequences. However, because there is no more general system code, it is rewritten according to the corresponding hardware every time. Not only is the platform too dependent and there is no reuse, but also the function can barely meet the requirements, which is very difficult to maintain.

Xu Zhizhong was a little helpless when he said this.

At present, there is no suitable real-time operating system platform to choose from in China. Every time a new project is developed, the entire control system has to be rewritten, which not only greatly reduces the development progress, but also is extremely difficult to maintain. If you want to upgrade, you often need to change many generations. It's okay to code.

Generally speaking, the upgrade of equipment is actually the last thing they want to see for these technicians. Once upgraded, it may mean that a large amount of code needs to be rewritten, and it takes a lot of time and energy to debug.

Therefore, the hardware equipment used in this area in the army is basically very backward. Their primary pursuit is stability rather than performance, and they will not pursue the latest chips or accessories that have just come out on the market at all.

Lin Hong is very clear that this development method of writing code specifically for certain hardware is actually quite backward, which is the case in the early stage of the development of the control system. However, although this method is relatively simple and direct, it may take a lot of time and energy to maintain, because Most of the code cannot be reused and must be rewritten for new hardware.

In the world, this development method has long been abandoned. Many embedded real-time operating system platforms have appeared in this field, the most famous of which is the VXLUaNks operating system designed and developed by WINDRIVEN in 1983, which almost supports All embedded CPUs on the market, such as X86 series, MIPS, PaURENPCInteli960, SPARC... and so on. With its good reliability and excellent real-time, it is widely used in communication, military, aviation, aerospace and other high-precision technologies and fields with extremely high real-time requirements, such as satellite communications, military exercises, ballistic guidance, aircraft navigation, etc.

As far as Lin Hong knows, this system is used in F-16s, F/A-18 fighters, B-2 stealth bombers and Patriot missiles in the United States.

Of course, the core code of this system is not open source. Although it can cooperate with Fenghe Company through normal commercial channels, at present, this situation cannot exist in the military field, because it is feared that these operating systems will be implanted into backdoor programs, resulting in the disclosure of secrets.

"Grandpa Xu, our company intends to develop an embedded real-time operating system like VxWaNks. If our company succeeds in development, is it possible to cooperate with the military?"

Lin Hong asked so many questions, which is what he wants to say most.

Xu Zhizhong was stunned. He took a look at Lin Hong and saw that he was not joking, so he couldn't help thinking about this possibility.

At present, in Western countries like the United States, many military developments are usually outsourced to private research institutions and companies, such as universities, arms companies and research institutes, such as B2 stealth bombers by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northrop. Grumman jointly developed and produced for the U.S. Air Force in the 1980s.

However, in China, all national defense science, technology, industrial and military enterprises are basically state-owned. At present, there is basically no private capital to enter. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, such as insufficient strength of private enterprises, or considering the reasons of security and confidentiality.

But if there is really a company that can develop an excellent embedded real-time operating system, as Lin Hong said, can it be directly introduced into military equipment for use?

From Xu Zhizhong's personal point of view, this matter should not be a big problem, at least his director is acceptable. The key is that the company must be domestic and fully credible.

"It's not impossible. As long as there is no problem with security and function, there should be no problem." Xu Zhizhong finally nodded slightly.

Then he paid attention to what Lin Hong said before. Originally, he thought that the operating system developed by Lin Hong was referring to the time-sharing system on the PC. At this time, he realized that it seemed to be an embedded real-time operating system.

"Are you going to develop a real-time operating system?" He asked in surprise.

Lin Hong nodded without changing his face: "Yes."

In fact, this matter is simply a temporary intention in Lin Hong's mind, and there is no shadow at all.

Xu Zhizhong's interest was raised: "Let me tell me about your progress."

So, Lin Hong began to talk: "At present, the prototype has not come out yet, but the design of the kernel has been completed. Our kernel architecture uses a microkernel, which only provides multi-tasking environments, inter-process communication and synchronization functions. Multi-task scheduling adopts a priority preemption method and supports time-sharing scheduling between tasks with the same priority..."

Lin Hong is quite familiar with the design of the operating system, and has studied many uncommon operating systems. In a hurry, the kernel prototype of an embedded real-time operating system appeared in his mind. He said that there was no flaw at all.

Xu Zhizhong could still maintain a normal heart at the beginning, but the more he listened to the surprise on his face, the thicker it became. In the end, his eyes were a little bright.

The system described by Lin Hong is exactly the platform expected by all technicians in their research institute. In the process of development, everyone has fantasized about such a platform countless times and tried to study it by themselves many times, but due to various reasons, this project has not been successfully promoted.

If a private company can really make such a system, it can greatly shorten their research and development time, so that they can focus completely on their core business, instead of focusing on control systems and software.

Judging from Lin Hong's words, their progress seems to be really good. Xu Zhizhong is very familiar with the details of the control system. After hearing some of the technical details mentioned by Lin Hong, he completely believed his words.

At the same time, Lin Hong's familiarity with the system also surprised him very much, but after all, he has seen Lin Hong's abnormal IQ, and he is also a little psychologically ready to accept at this moment.

He didn't know at all that what his proud disciple said at this time was not at all. The microkernel he was talking about is actually just stuck in his brain at present.

"When will your system prototype come out?" Xu Zhizhong asked expectantly.

"This... I can't say the specifics, but it should be within half a year, mainly because it is difficult for developers at present. If there are enough manpower, the time can be greatly shortened."

Compared with such a system, the half-year research and development time is already very short, so Xu Zhizhong is not surprised to hear his words.

"Xiao Hong, this matter is very meaningful and worth doing!" Xu Zhizhong encouraged, "The application of embedded systems is still very extensive. Whether it is military or civilian, the potential is very huge. Especially in the context of the rapid development of the electronics industry.

At this time, he also understood the specific reason why Lin Hong told him about this matter.

pondered, he continued: "You can make the prototype of this system as soon as possible. If you can meet the requirements, it is not impossible to win the army's list.