FreeRTOS: Aperiodic Tasks
FreeRTOS
• In previous examples, we looked at tasks that
executes in an infinite loop.
• vTaskDelayUntil() allows for creating tasks
that executes periodically.
• In many cases, tasks are required to execute
once or execute in response to an event
(example: condition in another task, interrupt,
etc.).
• As the task is not allowed to exit, the task
should be deleted or suspended.
vTaskDelete()
• VTaskDelete() function allows for deleting
the task stack and TCB from the heap and
hence permanently deleting the task.
• A task can easily delete itself by calling
vTaskDelete(NULL); from the task.
Example: write a C code that executes a task
once at the beginning of the program.
Example
Write a FreeRTOS application with one task
that prints something before it delete itself
vTaskDelete()
• A task can also be deleted from another task
or an ISR as follows:
1) Create a handle for the task:
2) Pass a reference of the task handle to the last
argument of vTaskCreate() when creating the
task:
3) Delete the task from another task or ISR:
Example
Write a FreeRTOS application with one task
deleting another task using a task handle.
vTaskSuspend()
• When deleting a task all of its local variable
are lost.
• A task can be suspended using the function:
• All the data of the task is retained, and the
task will only resume when the following
function is called from another task:
vTaskSuspend()
• When deleting a task all of its local variable
are lost.
• A task can be suspended using the function:
• All the data of the task is retained, and the
task will only resume when the following
function is called from another task:
FreeRTOS Task States
FreeRTOS Task States
• Running: When a task is actually executing it
is said to be in the Running state. It is
currently utilising the processor.
• Ready: Ready tasks are those that are able to
execute (they are not in the Blocked or
Suspended state) but are not currently
executing because a different task of equal or
higher priority is already in the Running state.
FreeRTOS Task States
• Blocked: A task is said to be in the Blocked
state if it is currently waiting for either a
temporal or external event. For example, if a
task calls vTaskDelay() it will block (be
placed into the Blocked state) until the delay
period has expired – a temporal event. Tasks
in the Blocked state normally have a
‘timeout’ period, after which the task will be
timeout, and be unblocked, even if the event
the task was waiting for has not occurred.
FreeRTOS Task States
• Suspended: Like tasks that are in the
Blocked state, tasks in the Suspended state
cannot be selected to enter the Running state,
but tasks in the Suspended state do not have a
time out. Instead, tasks only enter or exit the
Suspended state when explicitly commanded
to do so through the vTaskSuspend() and
xTaskResume() API calls respectively.
