The TOPPERS/ASP kernel (hereinafter ASP kernel) is the foundation for the
new generation of TOPPERS real-time kernels that follow the TOPPERS new generation kernel specification.
ASP (Advanced Standard Profile) has been developed - as it name suggests - by extending and improving
TOPPERS/JSP, a real-time kernel based on the standard profile of
μITRON4.0.
How to download the TOPPERS/ASP kernel
The ASP kernel is distributed in two ways: as combined packages that group
together the target-dependent and the target-independent source code; or as
separate packages.
Combined packages can be downloaded here*1 and
separate packages can be downloaded here*1.
The TOPPERS new generation kernel specification can be downloaded here*1.
Also, the source code for the Configurator software, which is necessary to use ASP,
can be downloaded here*1.
*1 Contents of reference page are mainly written in Japanese.
TOPPERS/ASP design policies and target application areas
The ASP kernel is a high-quality kernel based on more than 20 years of
ITRON technological development experience. In the quest for a
high-quality kernel, the functionality included in the ASP kernel is confined
to technology that is already mature in the kernel specification. Kernels
with further functionality - such as those supporting memory protection
or multiprocessors - are developed by extending the ASP kernel.
ASP is aimed at embedded systems with high-reliability, safety and real-time
requirements. Regarding to the software scale, it focuses on systems
where the program size (binary code) is in the order of 10KBs~1MB. For
bigger systems, a kernel with memory protection support should be a better
alternative.
Regarding to the ASP functionality, dynamic memory allocation is not used
inside the kernel. The reason is that dealing with memory exhaustion in
embedded systems that require high-reliability, safety and real-time is
a difficult task. In accordance with this policy, all kernel objects are
allocated statically and cannot be created dynamically. However, ASP
supports fixed-size memory pools for the application program to manage
dynamic memory.
The following list shows the development staff that participates in the development
of the TOPPERS/ASP kernel as members of the TOPPERS project
(the affiliation corresponds to the one at the time it was referenced).