Brian Amos - Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers

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Brian Amos is an embedded system engineer who has been programming with FreeRTOS since 2012. He is currently a senior firmware engineer in the telecom industry creating embedded systems used in ground stations for satellite communication. In the past, he led a team of engineers creating a flexible architecture to rapidly develop high-precision laboratory test equipment. Prior to this, he worked with early mesh networked energy harvesting sensors used to help predict when industrial machinery needed maintenance.

Phillip Johnston is a principal at Embedded Artistry, an embedded systems firm focused on improving early-stage hardware product development and educating developers and engineers around the world. Embedded Artistry focuses on building a solid foundation for building systems through systems architecture, modular firmware development, and automated software quality processes. His experience spans consumer electronics, defense, automotive, robotics, cameras, drones, and manufacturing.

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This hands-on guide will provide you with the most important functional knowledge for getting a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) up and running on a microcontrollerunit (MCU). If you're interested in learning how to implement applications using an RTOS with hands-on examples using actual hardware and discussing common performance versus development-time trade-offs, you're in the right place!

We'll be implementing code using the FreeRTOS kernel, working with the popular STM32 ARM MCUs using a low-cost STM Nucleo development board, and debugging/analyzing code with SEGGER debug tools. All of the tools used in this book have been selected because they are easily accessible for the hobbyist or professional just getting started, and also because of their popularity in real-world professional teams. The knowledge and experience you gain through reading this book and working through the examples will be directly applicable to actual development in a professional environment.

RTOS programming is not a beginner's topic and is definitely not the right starting point for learning about embedded systems. If MCUs or the C language is totally new to you, then you're better off starting by covering the basics and getting some hands-on experience before diving into this more advanced topic.

So, who stands to benefit the most from working through this book?

Professional programmers: You've always programmed on bare metal (no OS) and are looking to increase your MCU programming skills by learning how to use an RTOS to meet tight timing requirements, balance concurrent operations, and create modular code.

Students interested in "getting their hands dirty": You've been covering theory, listening to lectures, and coding lab exercises, but now you're looking for a complete guide that helps you to get started with something you can physically touch and interact with.

Makers moving onto more advanced topics: You've written some sketches or scripts, but you're looking for your next challenge. Maybe you'd like to create a full MCU-based system from scratch the information here will help get you on track for the programming side. You'll even get some tips on what to look for when selecting an MCU for your project.