What’s the Difference Between QNX and INTEGRITY RTOSes?

This article should really offer a comparison between a number of real-time operating systems (RTOS) implementations, including Wind River’s VxWorks and Lynx’s MOSA.ic.AI. But, to keep it simple, I’m just going to examine Blackberry’s QNX Neutrino  and Green Hills Software’s INTEGRITY because they’re very similar to each other.

Both have met numerous certifications like ISO 26262 and they’re found in safety-critical applications like automotive. These platforms are also becoming important for physical AI and robots as noted in Blackberry’s Inside the Robot: Architecture Benchmark Report.

These two RTOSes provide the deterministic environment while also delivering deterministic safety and security environments needed for highly reliable and secure applications platforms from avionics to medical to physical AI.

QNX Neutrino and INTEGRITY use a microkernel architecture with virtualization support, although INTEGRITY is based on a separation kernel. Both support POSIX, but it’s native to QNX Neutrino. The table delves into the similarities and differences between the two platforms.

In both cases, safety and security are paramount. Applications may fail, but the underlying OS must not. Likewise, the actual overhead is small compared to an OS like Linux. They bring all of the device drivers inside the operating system, whereas microkernel systems put the drivers and applications in their own virtual buckets.

Both vendors have their own integrated development environments (IDEs), although each can be supported via third-party tools. They provide advanced debugging capabilities as well.

QNX has focused on automative applications including advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment, and digital cockpits, where ASIL B and ASIL D requirements come into play. INTEGRITY has found a home in military and avionic applications that often require Multi-Level Security (MLS) and Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) architectures. The INTEGRITY-178 RTOS has been certified to Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 6+. This is a rigorous Common Criteria security evaluation where the code is formally verified.

Next time, we’ll look at open-source RTOS solutions like the Zephyr Project RTOS and Eclipse ThreadX.