You're reading from Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers Create high-performance, real-time embedded systems using FreeRTOS, STM32 MCUs, and SEGGER debug tools

Product type Paperback

Published in Sep 2025

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781803237725

Length 570 pages

Edition 2nd Edition

Languages

Concepts

Operating Systems

Authors (2):

Jim Yuill

Penn Linder

View More author details

Table of Contents (27) Chapters

Preface

1. Part 1: Introduction to RTOSes, the Dev-Board, and Tools

2. Introducing Real-Time Systems FREE CHAPTER

3. Introducing the Development Board

4. Introducing the Development-Tools

5. Understanding Super-Loops

6. Implementing the Super-Loop

7. Part 2: The FreeRTOS Scheduler, Tasks, and Primary APIs

8. Understanding RTOS Tasks

9. Running the FreeRTOS Scheduler

10. Protecting Data and Synchronizing Tasks

11. Intertask Communication

12. Part 3: Using FreeRTOS to Build Systems

13. Drivers and ISRs

14. More Efficient Drivers and ISRs

15. Sharing Hardware Peripherals among Tasks

16. Creating Loose Coupling with Queues

17. Part 4: System Design and Troubleshooting

18. FreeRTOS Memory Management

19. Multi-Processor and Multi-Core Systems

20. Troubleshooting Tips and Next Steps

21. Part 5: Reference Information and FreeRTOS Installation

22. Other Books You May Enjoy

23. Index

Appendix A: Tools Quick-Reference

1. Appendix B: Reference Information

2. Appendix C: Creating FreeRTOS Projects, and Installing FreeRTOS

Using a memory protection unit (MPU)

A memory protection unit (MPU) continuously monitors memory access at a hardware level to make absolutely certain that only legal memory accesses are occurring. Otherwise, an interrupt is raised and immediate action can be taken. This allows many common errors to be immediately detected, which might otherwise go unnoticed for a period of time.

Problems like stack-overflows can be immediately caught when using an MPU, e.g., a stack growing into the memory space reserved for another task. Buffer overflows and pointer errors are also stopped dead in their tracks when an MPU is utilized, which makes for a more robust application.

The STM32F767 MCU includes an MPU. In order to make use of the MPU in FreeRTOS, the MPU-enabled FreeRTOS port must be used: GCC\ARM_CM4_MPU. (The book’s example-programs do not use this port.) This way, restricted tasks can be created by using the API xTaskCreateRestricted, which contains the following additional...