Introduction to the TOPPERS/ASP kernel

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.

Target systems

At the present time, the ASP kernel supports the following target processors and/or systems.

Folder name		Development environment
	processor (model number)	System (manufacturer name)
arm_gcc		GCC
	ARM	Skyeye (ISS simulator)
	ARM (AT91SAM7A)	AT91SAM7A3EK (ATEMEL)
	ARM (AT91SAM7S)	BTC090 (Best technology)
sh12a_gcc		GCC
	SH2A (SH7211)	AP-SH2A-0A (Alpha project)
sh12a_shc		HEW
	SH2A (SH7211)	AP-SH2A-0A (Alpha project)
	SH2A (SH7263)	SH7263 Evaluation Board R0K572630D001BR (Renesas electronics)
sh34_gcc		GCC
	SH3 (SH7727)	MS7727CP01 (Hitachi Ultra LSI Systems)
	SH4 (SH7780)	AP-SH4A-0A (Alpha project)
h8300h_h8c		HEW
	H8/300H (H8/3048F-ONE)	HSB8F3048BF25SB (Hokuto electronics)
h8300h_gcc		GCC
	H8/300H	AKI-H8/3048F (Akizuki electronics)
	H8/300H	AKI-H8/3069F (Akizuki electronics)
m16c_nc30		HEW
	M16C	Renesas Starter Kit for M16C/62P (Renesas electronics)
	M16C	HSB16C29S64NE (Hokuto electronics)
m32c_nc308		HEW
	M32C	S810-CLG3-85 (Sunny technical research institute)
m32r_gcc		GCC
	M32102	OAKS32R-Borad Kit (Oaks electronics)
	M32R-II	M3A-ZA36 (Renesas electronics)
nios2_gcc		GCC
	Nios II	FSMPB for Nios II (Fuji Soft)
microblaze_gcc		GCC
	MicroBlaze	SUZUME (YDK technologies)
	MicroBlaze	Spartan-3A DSP 1800A (Xilinx)
macos_gcc		GCC
	PowerPC	Mac OS X simulator
m68k_gcc		GCC
	M68040 (MC68LC040)	DVE-68K/40 (densan) ※reference implementation
rx_rxc		HEW
	RX610	RX610 Renesas Starter Kit for RX610 (Renesas electronics)
v850_gcc		GCC
	V850	CQ-V850 (CQ Publishing)

Development staff

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).

※ Only mentioned the names of those developers that acknowledge its publication