State the required answer precisely and then provide proper

State the required answer precisely and then provide proper explanation. It is not enough to provide one- word or one-line answers.

Consider a computer embedded in the control of a manned spacecraft. Would it require an operating system at all? Would it   require   multitasking   features?   What about protection features? Explain.  

Thanks a lot for your help!!!

Solution

A computer embedded in the control of a manned spacecraft definitely requires an operating system, because the operating system is the one loaded first to get commands from the people operating the spacecraft to control it. Each and everytime they cannot write some programs to give instructions to control. Even a micro-controller may require initial BIOS to receive commands. Hence operating system is a must.

Multi-tasking features - This depends on the tasks it needs to perform. In most of the cases the operating system needs to have the multi-tasking features. Having a computer to perform a single task may be costlier, that too in complex systems like spacecrafts, the embedded computers need to receive inputs, perform some computations, display the parameters and give its outputs to other systems to control the spacecraft. In such scenario, it may not be possible to perform only one task all the time. The embedded computer needs to take some decisions and perform different tasks.

Protection features: The computer embedded in the control of a manned spacecraft needs to withstand various conditions (changes in climatic, electric and environmental) and hence it should take care itself from failures. For example in case of electrical surges, if the input read from control system got reduced, it may needs to ensure the input read was correct and the action needs to be taken would be valid. If the system shuts down and restart again, it may require to start the required operation immediately or enter into the tasks it was performing before restart etc. Hence the protection features of the embedded systems depends a lot on the tasks it is supposed to do with the protection from external parameters.