● Overview of Association

TRON Association is the core organization for promoting the TRON Project and was established in March 1988. The association engages in activities to encourage and standardize TRON computer systems. Our activities in the field of real-time operating systems include review of the ITRON specification, holding training seminars on ITRON and T-Kernel, and furthering applications of the very-large-character-set operating system.

● Activities

ITRON Specification Study Group

This group performs technical reviews and standardization of the ITRON specifications. In fiscal 2007, this group edited Practical Programming Guide for Embedded Systems: the ITRON-Specification OS and T-Kernel, which was published by Gijutsu-Hyohron Co. Ltd. in July of 2008. To investigate trends and the current situation of multi-core processors in embedded systems, the Next-Generation Embedded RTOS Survey Working Group was inaugurated in June of 2008. The group is made up of manufacturers of chips, operating systems, and development tools. Its aims are to investigate the environments multi-core processor systems will require and to make proposals for the next-generation RTOS (ITRON and T-Kernel).

TRON Education and Promotion Group

This group creates curricula covering the T-Kernel and ITRON and expedites the planning and holding of training seminars for engineers of real-time systems for embedded applications. To date, the Education and Promotion Group has run courses of lectures under the title Introduction to the Embedded Real-Time OS and an introductory course under the title Practical Skills for the Embedded Real-Time OS. This year, the group has added an intermediate course under the same title (Practical Skills for the Embedded Real-Time OS). Including these courses, the group holds seminars about ten times a year. Engineers developing embedded systems are encouraged to take advantage of these educational opportunities.
The group has also set up an on-line course recommended for absolute beginners and entitled Learn about Embedded Real-Time Operating Systems in One Hour on the homepage of TRON Association (URL: http://www.assoc.tron.org/jpn/).

TRON Multi-Character Application Group

This group encourages applications of TRON coding, which places no limitation on the number of incorporated characters, and a very-large-character-set OS that supports TRON coding. Concretely, activities include 1) development of technologies for compatibility between the TRON very-large-character-set OS and other operating systems, 2) development of technologies for exchanging data, including text with characters beyond the standard coding, 3) spreading the use of the very-large-character-set OS to printing systems, e-book systems, newspaper systems, electronic maps, library systems, etc., and 4) maintenance of the foundations of the OS, including the fonts and database of incorporated characters. Activities for the application of TRON very-large-character sets are being particularly strengthened this year.