Real-Time Firmware
for Deterministic Systems

Hard real-time scheduling, priority-driven task management, and deterministic interrupt handling for industrial automation, motor control, and safety-critical applications.

Real-Time Systems at Quantova
Overview

Determinism by Design, Not by Luck

What is a real-time system? In most software, a slight delay does not matter. In real-time systems — motor controllers, medical devices, industrial machines — tasks must complete within a guaranteed time window, every single time. Missing a deadline is not a performance issue; it is a safety or product failure. WCET (Worst-Case Execution Time) analysis measures the maximum time any task can take, ensuring no deadline is ever missed.

Real-time behaviour is a system property, not a firmware feature. Quantova designs RTOS architecture with timing analysis from the first task definition — deadline analysis, worst-case execution time profiling, and jitter measurement on your target hardware.

Capabilities

Core Services

RTOS Architecture Design (Real-Time OS)

Task decomposition, priority assignment, and scheduling analysis — Rate Monotonic and EDF scheduling with formal deadline verification.

Hard Real-Time Control Loops

PID controllers, motor drive loops, and servo control at deterministic cycle rates — tested with hardware-in-the-loop measurement.

Safety-Critical Firmware

IEC 61508 and ISO 26262-aware firmware design practices — diagnostics, safe state management, and watchdog architecture.

WCET Analysis

Worst-case execution time profiling using hardware cycle counters and RTOS trace tools. Timing budget documented per task.

Deliverables

What You Receive

  • RTOS-based firmware source
  • Task architecture and timing budget document
  • WCET analysis report
  • Interrupt latency measurement results
  • Safety diagnostic implementation report
Hardware measurement included: Timing claims are validated with oscilloscope and RTOS trace measurements on your actual hardware, not modelled estimates.
Tools

Technology Stack

FreeRTOSZephyrThreadX / Azure RTOSCMSIS-RTOS2Segger SystemViewARM Keil MDKLLVM
FAQs

Common Questions

On Cortex-M4 at 168MHz with cache enabled, typical interrupt latency is 12-20 cycles. We profile your specific configuration and document the achieved latency.

We can implement firmware to be certification-aware. We do not act as a certification authority, but we ensure the firmware engineering process and documentation meet the standard requirements your certifier will review.

Build Your Real-Time System

Share your timing requirements and hardware platform. We will scope the RTOS architecture and implementation.

Get in Touch