TRON Real-Time OS (RTOS) Family recognized as IEEE Milestone
June 22, 2023
TRON Forum (Chair Ken Sakamura, IEEE Life Fellow/IEEE Computer Society GoldenCore Member, Dean of Faculty of Information Networking for Innovation and Design,
Toyo University Director, YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory Professor Emeritusof the University of Tokyo ) is pleased to announce that TRON RTOS family, hasbeen recognized as IEEE Milestone by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers), the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated toadvancing technology for the benefit of humanity.
An IEEE Milestone recognizes a significant technical achievement that occurred atleast twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE.
The official name of the Milestone is "TRON Real-time Operating System Family,
1984." The TRON project was started in 1984 by a computer architecture project
team and its partners under the leadership Ken Sakamura at the University ofTokyo. This is an open innovation project, which was rare at the time, to establish anefficient development environment for embedded systems in anticipation of the era
when what we now call the IoT environment becomes commonplace. The TRON
real-time OS family was planned, researched, and developed as the core of thisdevelopment environment. This OS is widely used and continues to improve andevolve. The specification of a family member, µT-Kernel 2.0, has been adopted as anIEEE standard (2050-2018).
The Milestone citation reads as follows.: In 1984, a computer architecture project

team at the University of Tokyo began designing The Real-time Operating system
Nucleus (TRON) OS family and helping external partners commercialize it.
Specifications and sample source code were provided openly and freely, facilitating
innovations by developers and users. TRON real-time OS family copies have been
adopted worldwide in billions of embedded computer devices, including aerospace
and industrial equipment, automotive systems, and home electronics.
.

"IEEE Milestone recognition is a great honor for the project and its members andusers of the TRON RTOS family who have produced numerous products that are partof our daily living and social infrastructure. I am delighted that our activity of TRON
Project is recognized this way," Sakamura stated on this occasion.
Under Sakamura's leadership, TRON Forum will continue to provide, improve, andpromote the TRON RTOS family, their development and network environment that
support them so that they can be used easily in consumer markets. The Forum
would like to thank the members and partners for their past cooperation andcontinued support in future promotional activities.
Milestone plaque dedication ceremony is being planned this fall at the University ofTokyo campus where the plaque will be permanently displayed.

About IEEE
IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated toadvancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited
publications, conferences, technology standards, professional and educational
activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging fromaerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering,
electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at https://www.ieee.org
About IEEE Milestone
The IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing program honors
significant technical achievements in all areas associated with IEEE. It is a programof the IEEE History Committee, administered through the IEEE History Center.
Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit ofhumanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents.
IEEE established the Milestones Program in 1983 in conjunction with the 1984
Centennial Celebration to recognize the achievements of the Century of Giants whoformed the profession and technologies represented by IEEE.
Each milestone recognizes a significant technical achievement that occurred at least
twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having at

least regional impact. To date, more than two hundred thirty Milestones have been
approved and dedicated around the world.
Learn more at https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Main_PageAbout TRON Project
TRON Project is a computer architecture development project by collaboration ofindustry and academia and started in 1984. Ken Sakamura (IEEE Life Fellow/IEEEComputer Society Golden Core Member, Dean of Faculty of Information Networkingfor Innovation And Design (INIAD), Toyo University / Director of YRP Ubiquitous
Networking Laboratory) is the project leader and the project has conducted
research and development activities in RTOSs for embedded systems, theirdevelopment environment, the IoT network and other topics.
The architecture, the achievement of this project, has been widely used inembedded systems in various industries ranging from consumer products such as
automobile engine control, digital cameras, smartphones, etc., to industrial products
including the machine control inside factories. TRON Project has proposed andpromoted Open Architecture since its inception. TRON Project actively suggests
standard specifications to international standardization associations such as ITU-T,
ISO, and IEEE SA, and contributes to the international standardization of theinfrastructure technology.
There is an NPO, TRON Forum that promotes the activities of TRON Project. For
details of the project, please see its website.
https://www.tron.org/

About TRON Open Architecture
TRON Project has proposed and promoted Open Architecture since its inception. Inits vision, computers based on open architecture will be embedded into many
devices, and realize the IoT networking environment that supports our lives.
The results of TRON Project such as the whole source codes of TRON RTOSs
including T-Kernel and μT-Kernel are published, and can be copied and modified.

These outputｓ have been recognized as important element of “TRON Real-time
Operating System Family, 1984” as IEEE Milestone.
International Standardization Activity by TRON ProjectIn addition to making open specification and open source code available, TRON
Project actively suggests standard specification to international standardization
associations such as ITU-T, ISO, and IEEE SA, and contributes to the international
standardization of the infrastructure technology.
“IEEE 2050-2018 - IEEE Standard for a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) for
Small-Scale Embedded Systems” was based on the specification of μT-Kernel 2.0,
an RTOS developed by TRON Forum. The latest version, μT-Kernel 3.0, conforms
to IEEE 2050-2018 completely. This again is an important element of “TRON Realtime Operating System Family, 1984” as IEEE Milestone.
TRON Project has proposed an identification system, ucode, for identifying many
devices and data in the IoT age, and a code system based on it has become ITU-TRecommendations. (Y.4804/H.642.1. The project has contributed to thestandardization of related standards, ITU-T Y.4551/F.771, Y.4802/H.642.2.）