Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers: Create high-performance, real-time embedded systems using FreeRTOS, STM32 MCUs and SEGGER debug tools

by Brian Amos, Jim Yuill, Penn Linder

Overview

A comprehensive guide designed to provide practical kills and insights to supercharge your embedded engineering journey All formats include a free PDF and an invitation to the Embedded System Professionals community

Key Features

• Unlock the secrets of RTOS and master them on the highly capable STM32 platform
• Upgrade your programming skills and elevate your game in building top-notch embedded systems
• Master the art of RTOS implementation and explore the vast array of possibilities for your embedded systems

Book Description

Want to stay ahead of the curve with embedded systems development? The updated edition of Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers is here and packed with cutting-edge content to up your skills. It contains everything you need to know about real-time operating systems, how they work, and why they’re essential for today’s time-critical applications; learn about FreeRTOS and its primary capabilities and APIs. You’ll find a detailed overview of system-design topics such as memory management, project-design topics (MCU, IDE, and RTOS API), and hands-on system use, as well as the system platform, dev-board with an MCU and debug-probe, and development tools (IDE, build system, source-code debugging). The new edition includes 10 real-world embedded applications showcasing the latest features of FreeRTOS, teaching you how to implement them in your own projects and exploring how to optimize your code with dynamic analysis. It also provides example programs on a GitHub repo for you to explore with detailed instructions. You’ll learn how to create and install your own FreeRTOS system on the dev-board, and set up an IDE project with debugging tools. With dozens of reference manuals listed, you’ll never be short on resources for system development. Stay ahead of the curve — get your second edition of Hands-On RTOS with Microcontrollers today!

What you will learn

• Understand RTOS, use-cases and decide when to (and not-to) use real-time OS
• Utilize FreeRTOS scheduler to create, start and monitor task states
• Improve task signaling and communication using queues, semaphores, and mutexes
• Streamline task data transfer with queues and notifications
• Upgrade peripheral communication via UART using drivers and ISRs
• Enhance interface architecture with a command queue for better system control
• Maximize FreeRTOS memory management with trade-off insights

Who this book is for

This book is an indispensable guide for systems-programmers, embedded-systems engineers, and software-developers who want to learn about Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and how to use FreeRTOS in their embedded system design. A basic understanding of the C programming language and embedded systems and microcontrollers will be helpful.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781803237725
Publisher:	Packt Publishing
Publication date:	09/17/2025
Product dimensions:	75.00(w) x 92.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Brian Amos is an embedded system engineer who has been programming with FreeRTOS since 2012. He is currently a senior firmware engineer in the telecom industry creating embedded systems used in ground stations for satellite communication. In the past, he led a team of engineers creating a flexible architecture to rapidly develop high-precision laboratory test equipment. Prior to this, he worked with early mesh networked energy harvesting sensors used to help predict when industrial machinery needed maintenance.

Jim Yuill is a senior computer-systems engineer, with 30 years of experience. He has worked in operating-systems development, cyber-security R&D, network systems-programming, and university teaching. He has a PhD in computer science, with a thesis in cyber security, which is highly cited.

Penn Linder is a Senior Electrical Engineer at IVEK Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial pumps and controllers. He has had a passion for embedded systems since taking his first embedded controllers' class at Penn State University in 1995. He followed his passion by working for various companies that allowed him to design both hardware and software for products using embedded systems. Some of the products he has worked on include lighting controls, medical devices, and industrial automation equipment. His early years were spent cranking out bare-metal assembly code for 8-bit MCUs. In his later years, he wrote software using C and FreeRTOS for 32-bit ARM Cortex-M processors.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Introducing Real-Time Systems
2. Introducing the Development-Board
3. Introducing the Development Tools
4. Understanding Super-Loops
5. Implementing the Super-Loop
6. Understanding RTOS Tasks
7. Running the FreeRTOS Scheduler
8. Protecting Data and Synchronizing Tasks
9. Intertask Communication
10. Drivers and ISRs
11. More Efficient Drivers and ISRs
12. Sharing Hardware Peripherals across Tasks
13. Creating Loose Coupling with Queues
14. FreeRTOS Memory Management
15. Multi-Processor and Multi-Core Systems
16. Troubleshooting Tips and Next Steps
17. Appendix A - Quick-Reference for the Development-Tools
18. Appendix B - Bibliography for System Reference-Documents
19. Appendix C - Troubleshooting