Magnetite Operating System Extensions for Microkernels

Described is a real time operating system (RTOS) application programming interface (API) that provides services common in feature-rich operating systems (such as Linux) but absent in more trustworthy µ-kernel-based systems. Examples of such services include communication channels, timers, event management, and synchronization. Two RTOS-API implementations (referred to herein as Patina implementations) are described: one on Composite and the other on seL4, each of which is designed based on the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) to increase system security. Also described is how each of these µ-kernels affect the PoLP-based design, as well as security and performance tradeoffs in the two implementations.