Abstract:

The virtualization technology of computer systems is a hot subject of the IT area in recent years. The next step of virtualization technology is embedded systems. What the virtualization of embedded systems does is to insert a software layer called virtual machine monitor between the hardware platform and the operating system, and the virtual machine monitor constructs a few virtual machines, which run several types of operating systems. Many foreign corporations and universities are carrying out researches on the embedded virtualization technology. The advantages of this technology are: to reduce the development cost of embedded systems, to push embedded products faster, to considerate more features, to lower power consumption, to maintain the values of software, and to improve security and reliability. The problems of the embedded virtualization technology include realtime scheduling, diversity of embedded hardware platforms, power management and communication among virtual machines. Embedded virtualization technology will bring the area of embedded systems with huge changes, and deserve our close attention to it.

Key words: embedded virtualization;paravirtualization;realtime scheduling