Frequently Asked Questions | The Eclipse Foundation

Last Updated: November 16, 2024
Eclipse ThreadX is the world’s first and only permissively licensed open source embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) certified for safety-critical applications governed under the stewardship of a vendor-neutral foundation.
ThreadX was previously owned by Microsoft and marketed under the Azure RTOS name. Microsoft contributed Azure RTOS and the ThreadX trademark to the Eclipse Foundation in November 2023. You can learn more in the announcement FAQ.
An RTOS, or Real-Time Operating System, is tailored to meet the distinctive needs of real-time systems spanning various domains, including consumer electronics, embedded systems, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, industrial control systems, automotive systems, avionics, medical devices, and more. An RTOS is characterized by its deterministic behavior, ensuring predictable and consistent task execution times. Efficient task scheduling, low-latency responses to external events, and robust interrupt handling are fundamental features that distinguish an RTOS. Additionally, effective communication and synchronization mechanisms, along with resource management, contribute to the reliability and precision required in real-time systems.
Organisations willing to support the continued growth and sustainability of the Eclipse ThreadX platform and its ecosystem, driving the advancement of next-generation embedded and safety-critical solutions, are grouped into the ThreadX Alliance(https://threadxalliance.org).
ThreadX also attracted the interest of several automotive players. Those participate in the ThreadX special interest group (SIG) inside the Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) working group.
Finally, the Eclipse Foundation has a number of its members offering services and support for Eclipse ThreadX.
ThreadX is the world’s first open source real time operating system (RTOS) with multiple safety certifications governed under the stewardship of a vendor-neutral foundation. It provides a vendor-neutral, open source, safety certified OS for real-time applications published under a permissive license. ThreadX is the first and only RTOS in the market that has all four of those attributes and comes with a complete embedded development suite.
ThreadX is available under the MIT license, a well-known and highly regarded permissive open source license. This makes adoption of and contribution to ThreadX as simple as possible for all parties.
ThreadX is certified for use in safety-critical applications, including home appliances, road vehicles, medical devices, and trains.
The following standards have been used for certification:
The certification has been performed by SGS-TÜV Saar
Specific versions of Eclipse ThreadX® have been certified for safety-critical applications. You will find information about each of the certified on the ThreadX Alliance website.
If you intend to certify your product or device, you can only use the component versions for which a certificate is available.
Subscribers of the ThreadX Alliance can purchase a license for the ThreadX safety artefacts package, which contains a full set of safety manuals and other documents for every certified ThreadX release.
It means the OS has been validated for conformance against specific international and industry standards by third-party auditors.
ThreadX and its components have been tested according to the following standards:
ThreadX will is a project under the Eclipse IoT top-level project and the guidance of its Project Management Committee (PMC). As such, the ThreadX open source project is joining a large and well-established open source community.
The Eclipse IoT Working Group is home to the most extensive open source IoT and edge computing toolkit in the industry. The project portfolio encompasses the entire device-to-edge-to-cloud continuum.This software portfolio targets the three pillars of IoT and Edge: constrained devices, edge nodes, and IoT Cloud platforms.
Eclipse ThreadX reinforces the Eclipse IoT and edge portfolio in a significant way. It brings to the table a mature, high-performance, small footprint real time operating system (RTOS) that other Eclipse projects can leverage. This also opens up the use and adoption of other Eclipse IoT technologies, such as Sparkplug and zenoh, to ThreadX developers.
The Eclipse ThreadX safety and security certifications also make it a very attractive platform for software-defined vehicles (SDV). Eclipse SDV projects targeting the in-car environment will undoubtedly benefit from the addition of ThreadX to the Eclipse portfolio.
The Eclipse Foundation established the ThreadX Alliance as a structure to support the development and adoption of ThreadX. The Foundation’s vendor-neutral model of governance will ensure that all stakeholders of the ThreadX ecosystem can participate and make their voices heard.
Developers willing to contribute fixes and new features to the Eclipse ThreadX open source project can do so even if their employers are not members of the Eclipse Foundation or the ThreadX Alliance. Anyone can become a project contributor by creating an Eclipse Foundation account and signing the Eclipse Contributor Agreement electronically. Just make sure the email address referenced by the account is the same you intend to use when you commit to Git.
Since it is available under the permissive MIT license, you can use ThreadX without licensing or royalty fees.
If your product requires safety certification, ThreadX represents a mature, proven, yet affordable alternative to commercial RTOSes.
Eclipse ThreadX is a good choice for any type of embedded, IoT, or industrial automation application where a real-time operating system is needed. The impressive list of ThreadX safety and security certifications (e.g. IEC 61508, IEC 62304, ISO 26262, EN 50128) make it an attractive choice for applications and use cases requiring a high level of dependability.
While the suitability of any product for use in a specific applicati