An operating system (OS) is responsible for managing the hardware resources of a computer and hosting applications that run on the computer. A Real-Time Operating System RTOS performs these tasks, but is also specially designed to run applications with very precise timing and a high degree of reliability. This can be important in measurement and automation systems where downtime is costly or a program delay could cause a safety hazard.

EmS-Lab research focuses mainly on evaluating and benchmarking (Real-Time) Operating Systems on single, multi and many core platforms including Virtualization aspects.

EmS-Lab has already evaluated a set of Operating Systems on different platforms. The adjacent figure shows the (RT)OS that were evaluated on different platforms. The reports of these evaluations can be downloaded for free at the Dedicated Systems' website (registration required)