
ZENO
®
-3200 USER MANUAL
Coastal Environmental Systems (206) 682-6048
Page 216
The RTOS is analogous to the Microsoft Windows operating system that runs on most personal
computers. However, an RTOS is designed and optimized to run with a minimal amount of code and
using a very small amount of memory because software applications that require an RTOS have many
time-critical functions. An RTOS allows a multitasking software application (such as ZENOSOFT
®
) to
perform all of its functions within as little time as possible.
12.1.4. ZENOSOFT
®
and Multitasking
As mentioned in the previous section, ZENOSOFT
®
is a multitasking software application that controls
the ZENO
®
-3200. It was designed to run within the operating parameters of the RTOS.
Different, major functions within ZENOSOFT
®
are defined within individual tasks. Each task is run by
the RTOS according to the priority of the task and events that occur during data collection, data logging
and communications with the User Interface. Several of the tasks include:
The User Interface Task, which controls the User Interface.
The Get-Data Task, which controls data collection and processing.
The Output-Message Task, which controls the automatic transmission of output messages.
Each task requires a minimum amount of time dedicated by the CPU to perform all of its functions.
As a configuration becomes more complex, the amount of time required by
each ZENOSOFT
®
task increases.
If the amount of time required by a task to complete its functions exceeds a
specified limit, the task will fail and cause the ZENO
®
-3200 to reboot!
ZENOSOFT
®
will report which task has "timed-out" when the task exceeds
its time limit.
ZENOSOFT
®
task time-out errors are rare!
If a task times out and causes the ZENO
®
-3200 to reboot, you should review
the complexity of your configuration and find ways to simplify it.
12.1.5. The User-Defined Configuration and Timing
The configuration that a user defines operates within the parameters specified by ZENOSOFT
®
.
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