Case Studies

Real deployments, real results. See how engineering teams across industries leverage NitroCortex to build reliable embedded systems.

⚙
INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

Multi-Axis Servo Motor Controller

A European industrial equipment manufacturer needed a high-performance motor control solution for their next-generation CNC machines, requiring sub-microsecond control loop timing and deterministic behavior.

STM32F746 Cortex-M7 4-Axis Control EtherCAT
0.8µs
Control Loop Jitter
50kHz
PWM Frequency
4
Simultaneous Axes
12KB
Total RAM Usage

📋 Challenge

The previous solution based on a commercial RTOS suffered from:

  • Unpredictable latency spikes up to 15µs
  • Complex licensing for multi-product deployment
  • Excessive RAM usage (45KB for kernel alone)
  • Poor integration with custom EtherCAT stack

✓ Solution

NitroOS provided the determinism and efficiency needed:

  • Hand-optimized assembly scheduler for M7
  • Priority ceiling protocol for mutex handling
  • Zero-copy message passing between tasks
  • Tight integration with DMA for ADC/PWM
+------------------+     +------------------+     +------------------+
|   EtherCAT Task  |     |  Control Loop    |     |   Safety Task    |
|   Priority: 3    |     |  Priority: 7     |     |   Priority: 6    |
|   Period: 1ms    |     |  Period: 20us    |     |   Period: 100us  |
+--------+---------+     +--------+---------+     +--------+---------+
         |                        |                        |
         v                        v                        v
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                         NitroOS Kernel (2.8KB)                         |
|  - Preemptive scheduler  - Hardware timers  - Priority inheritance     |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
         |                        |                        |
+--------v--------+      +--------v--------+      +--------v--------+
|   EtherCAT HW   |      |   PWM + ADC     |      |   Watchdog      |
|   (DMA-driven)  |      |   (DMA-driven)  |      |   + Fault GPIO  |
+-----------------+      +-----------------+      +-----------------+

"We evaluated three RTOS solutions. NitroOS was the only one that met our sub-microsecond jitter requirement while fitting in our RAM budget. The assembly-optimized kernel made the difference."

- Lead Firmware Engineer, Industrial Equipment Manufacturer (Germany)
NitroOS
NitroSIM
☤
MEDICAL DEVICES

Portable Infusion Pump Controller

A medical device company developing an IEC 62304 Class C infusion pump required a certified-quality RTOS and file system with full traceability for regulatory submission.

STM32L476 Cortex-M4 IEC 62304 Battery-Powered
100%
Code Coverage
0
MISRA Violations
18mo
Battery Life
8KB
Flash Footprint

📋 Challenge

Regulatory requirements demanded:

  • MISRA-C compliant codebase with documentation
  • Full requirements-to-code-to-test traceability
  • Fault-tolerant data logging for 5+ years
  • Ultra-low power for extended battery operation

✓ Solution

NitroCortex provided regulatory-ready components:

  • MISRA-C 2025 compliant kernel and file system
  • Complete documentation package for IEC 62304
  • NitroFS journaling prevents data loss on power failure
  • Tickless idle mode for µA sleep current
+------------------+     +------------------+     +------------------+
|   Pump Control   |     |   Alarm Manager  |     |   Data Logger    |
|   Priority: 6    |     |   Priority: 7    |     |   Priority: 2    |
+--------+---------+     +--------+---------+     +--------+---------+
         |                        |                        |
         v                        v                        v
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                     NitroOS Kernel (MISRA-C Compliant)                 |
|  - Tickless idle  - Watchdog integration  - Fault handlers            |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                                  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                   NitroFS (Journaled, Wear-Leveled)                    |
|  - Dose history  - Error logs  - Configuration  - Calibration data    |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                                  |
                     +------------v------------+
                     |   SPI NOR Flash (8MB)   |
                     +-------------------------+

"The documentation package and traceability matrices saved us months of regulatory preparation. Our notified body was impressed with the quality of the software architecture documentation."

- Software Quality Manager, Medical Device Company (France)
NitroOS
NitroFS
NitroSIM
📡
INDUSTRIAL IoT

Edge Computing Gateway for Smart Factory

An IoT solutions provider needed a robust edge gateway platform capable of local data processing, protocol translation, and remote management for Industry 4.0 deployments.

STM32H743 Cortex-M7 Dual Ethernet MQTT/Modbus
500+
Sensors Connected
10K
Messages/Second
99.99%
Uptime
24/7
Local Logging

📋 Challenge

The gateway requirements included:

  • High-throughput message routing between protocols
  • Local buffering during cloud connectivity loss
  • TUI for on-site configuration and diagnostics
  • Over-the-air firmware updates with rollback

✓ Solution

Full NitroCortex stack deployment:

  • NitroOS managing 12 concurrent tasks
  • NitroFS storing 72+ hours of offline data
  • NitroVISION for local UART console interface
  • NitroSIM for automated integration testing
+----------+  +----------+  +----------+  +----------+  +----------+
| Modbus   |  | MQTT     |  | HTTP     |  | OTA      |  | Console  |
| Handler  |  | Client   |  | Server   |  | Manager  |  | (TUI)    |
+----+-----+  +----+-----+  +----+-----+  +----+-----+  +----+-----+
     |             |             |             |             |
+----v-------------v-------------v-------------v-------------v----+
|                    NitroOS (12 Tasks, 8 Queues)                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
     |                           |                           |
+----v----+               +------v------+              +------v------+
| lwIP    |               |  NitroFS    |              | NitroVISION |
| TCP/IP  |               |  (32GB SD)  |              | (UART TUI)  |
+---------+               +-------------+              +-------------+

"Having the TUI framework was unexpected but incredibly valuable. Our field technicians can now diagnose issues on-site without a laptop. The offline buffering has prevented data loss during several network outages."

- IoT Platform Architect, Industrial Solutions Provider (Netherlands)
NitroOS
NitroFS
NitroVISION
NitroSIM

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