An Interview with Frédéric Desbiens, Eclipse SDV ThreadX SIG Lead
This year, the Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle Working Group founded a Special Interest Group (SIG) on Eclipse ThreadX, a versatile and mature RTOS technology that has been at the forefront of embedded systems development since 1997. With a small, high-performing core and a robust ecosystem, ThreadX offers a unique solution for developers and organisations seeking reliability, efficiency, and safety. Whether you’re diving into the open-source project, exploring the safety-certified offerings of the ThreadX Alliance, or joining the collaborative efforts of the ThreadX SIG, there’s a pathway tailored to your needs. In this interview with ThreadX SIG and project lead Frédéric Desbiens, we delve into what makes ThreadX stand out, its impressive track record, and its potential to shape the future of safety-critical and automotive software.
First things first: There’s the Eclipse ThreadX project, there’s the ThreadX SIG, and there’s the ThreadX Alliance. For someone new to ThreadX, what would be the best starting point to get involved and learn more about it?
Frédéric Desbiens: As usual in the world of technology, the answer to that question is: “It depends”.
If you are a developer looking for the fastest, fully featured, open source real-time operating system, your first stop should be the ThreadX open source project.
The same is true if you are a current user of ThreadX. Stay in touch with us and get involved as a contributor! Since ThreadX is no longer a commercial product, it truly belongs to its community.
If you’re looking to build safety-certified products by leveraging ThreadX and its modules, you should visit the ThreadX Alliance immediately. We set up the Alliance to enable all organisations, including those not Eclipse Foundation members, to financially support the ThreadX project. Alliance subscribers can purchase a license to our safety certification artefact package.
Finally, if your company was an Express Logic or Microsoft partner working on ThreadX or Azure RTOS, then the ThreadX Special Interest Group (SIG) awaits you! Your company needs to become a member of the Eclipse Foundation and its Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) working group to join the SIG. In return, it will become an official ThreadX support and services provider and will be featured on threadx.io. Why join SDV, you will ask? We started there because we had many automotive companies interested in ThreadX. However, you can participate even if automotive is not your target market. In the future, we may establish a dedicated ThreadX working group or ThreadX SIGs in different working groups as well.
"Since ThreadX is no longer a commercial product, it truly belongs to its community."
What makes ThreadX a well-suited technology not only for the (I)Iot, but also for the software-defined vehicle of the future?
Frédéric: ThreadX is the smallest and best-performing open source RTOS on the market. The core kernel can be as small as 2 KB while providing sub-millisecond context switches between threads. Consequently, it is a stellar choice for all sorts of safety-critical applications running on constrained microcontrollers.
For IoT and IIoT use cases, the star of the show is not ThreadX itself but rather NetX Duo, its companion network stack. NetX Duo is a comprehensive TCP/IP stack implementing v4 and v6 of the protocol. With built-in clients for HTTP, MQTT, and other popular protocols, NetX Duo can provide secure, reliable networking to any connected device.
Another advantage of ThreadX and its companion components is their maturity. ThreadX itself goes all the way back to 1997! This stability makes it a perfect fit for embedded applications and explains why it has been deployed in over 12 billion devices up to now.
What sets ThreadX apart from other open source RTOS options?
Frédéric: ThreadX is the industry’s first and only safety-certified open source RTOS. Specifically, it has been certified by SGS-Tüv Saar for conformance with IEC-61508 SIL 4, IEC-62304 SW Safety Class C, ISO 26262 ASIL D, and EN 50128. In layman's terms, this means it can be used in automobiles, trains, medical devices and all sorts of safety-certified devices.
ThreadX’s small size, high performance, and feature set also set it apart from its open source competitors. For example, the 2024 RTOS performance report from the Beningo Embedded Group singles out ThreadX as the highest-performance open source RTOS on the market.
At the recent Eclipse SDV Hackathon, Eclipse ThreadX was used by several teams, including two winning teams. This can be seen as a success for ThreadX as well. Did you anticipate this level of adoption, and how did it feel to see ThreadX contribute to their success?
Frédéric: I did not anticipate this level of adoption. So, the success of ThreadX at the SDV hackathon was a pleasant surprise. None of the participants had prior experience with ThreadX, and only a few were proficient C coders. The fact that so many teams could compete and even win with ThreadX shows its potential for automotive and beyond. I was happy and proud of that outcome, as you can imagine.
"The fact that so many teams could compete and even win with ThreadX shows its potential for automotive and beyond."
What are some of your objectives for this SIG?
Frédéric: The main objective is to foster the adoption of ThreadX in a broad range of safety-critical use cases. Naturally, an important secondary objective is to ensure that automotive companies can influence the future of ThreadX to make it even better suited to their current and future needs.
Make sure to also check out our interview with Martin Schleicher and Leonardo Rossetti, Co-Leads of the Eclipse SDV Special Interest Group “Automotive Processes for Open Source Software.”
