Instead of reinventing the wheel, we are instrumenting the RT-Linux kernel to achieve the desired goals. The Motorola MPC 823 processor in the Sensoria WINS 2.0 platform can operate with variable speeds. This is accomplished using variable supply voltages and the operating system can assign an appropriate speed to a task by setting the bits in a programmable register. In addition, in order to reduce OS footprint, we will design the middleware for a virtual real-time operating system. For this purpose, specific real-time tasks will first be identified and then an architecture for implementing these functions will be developed.
Some devices even have multiple low-power states.
Consequently, long sleeping periods are desirable for low-energy operation. We propose to use the RT-Linux kernel as a testbed for evaluating our ideas. This allows the system to run real-time applications for sensor networks, while still serving as a standard Linux workstation. We feel that we instead of working with proprietary QNX, we should use open source RT-Linux. In fact, we are planning to use the RT-Linux kernel as a testbed for evaluating our ideas.