MPEI: OS for programmable logic controllers

Main Article: Operating Systems

2024: OS Presentation for Programmable Logic Controllers

NRU MPEI presented the development of a prototype operating system (OS) based on Linux for programmable logic controllers. The university announced this on October 30, 2024. For several years, MPEI students have been engaged in applied research in the field of assessing the applicability and implementability of an embedded operating system based on the Linux kernel for industrial automation devices in a protected version. During the research, competencies were accumulated in using the Linux kernel, configuring it to perform tasks in soft real time, and configuring the built-in kernel security mechanisms.

A feature of the presented result is a prototype operating system based on a single-board, computer built using micro processor based on the architecture of the command system. RISC-V During the work, practical results were obtained, which consist in evaluating the performance of already available single-board computers based on RISC-V, and assessing the feasibility of systems and complexes based on these hardware platforms.

MPEI also has the necessary practical experience to implement trusted industry hardware and software systems using embedded secure operating systems based on the Linux kernel and complex chips of systems on a chip based on the RISC-V architecture. As domestic chips of this class appear, the skills and experience of project groups will be used to create a completely domestic solution.

Research carried out by the MPEI team on the creation of a domestic assembly of a Linux-based operating system in the future will ensure cybersecurity and reliability of programmable logic controllers. This project not only contributes to the replacement of foreign solutions, but also to strengthening the technological sovereignty of Russia, opening new horizons for the introduction of Russian technologies into the automation of production and the electric power industry, "said Nikolai Rogalev, rector of MPEI.

The results of testing the obtained assemblies of the operating system based on the Linux kernel meet the basic requirements for modern embedded operating systems used in the electric power industry for relay protection systems, automation and automated process control systems.

This operating system on the basis of Linux is developed for programmable logical controllers under the leadership of the associate professor of relay protection and automation of power supply systems of NIU "MEI" Vladimir Karantayev. ​