AN 796: Cyclone® V and Arria® V SoC Device Design Guidelines

ID 683360
Date 3/30/2022
Public
Document Table of Contents

5.1.2.1. Linux or RTOS

There are a number of operating systems that support the Cyclone® V SoC and Arria® V SoC, including Linux and several real-time operating systems (RTOSs). For more information on Intel® ’s SoC Partner OS ecosystem, visit the Ecosystem tab of the Intel® FPGAs page.

Partner OS providers offer board support packages and commercial support for the SoC FPGA devices. The Linux community also offers board support packages and community support for the SoC FPGA device.

There are many factors that go into the selection of an operation system for SoC FPGAs including the features of the operating system, licensing terms, collaborative software projects and framework based on the OS, available device drivers and reference software, in-house legacy code and familiarity with the OS, real-time requirements of your system, functional safety and other certifications required for your application.

To select an appropriate OS for your application, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the features and support services offered by the commercial and open source operating systems available for the SoC FPGA. Intel® ’s OS partners, industry websites are a good source of information you can use to help make your selection.

There are a number of misconceptions when it comes to real-time performance of operating systems versus bare metal applications. For a Cortex A-class of processor there are a number of features that real-time operating systems provide that make efficient use of the processor’s resources in addition to the facilities provided to manage the run-time application. You may find that these efficiencies result in sufficient real-time performance for your application, enabling you to inherit a large body of available device drivers, middleware packages, software applications and support services. It is important to take this account when selecting an operating system.