TRON Programming Contest 2025

Win your share of five million yen in our AI and RTOS innovation contest, featuring an IEEE Milestone RTOS with a 60% global market share

TRON Forum (Chair: Ken Sakamura, Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo) will hold “TRON Programming Contest 2025” (hereafter, “this Contest”) from Tuesday, January 21, 2025. Total amount of prizes is five million Japanese YEN. There are multiple submission categories, and a Grand Prize, Excellence Awards, and Special Awards will be awarded for each submission category.

This Contest is for engineers and students from Japan and overseas to compete in the fields of microprocessor applications, middleware, development environment, and tools using "µT-Kernel 3.0"(※), the world standard TRON RTOS.

The theme of this Contest is “TRON × AI — Utilizing AI.” We look forward to receiving your innovative submissions that incorporate AI technology. This Contest will be held in special collaboration with STMicroelectronics K.K. and Renesas Electronics, and in cooperation with Infineon Technologies K.K. and Personal Media Corporation, etc. This Contest also receives technical co-sponsorship from the IEEE Consumer Technology Society West Japan Joint Chapter. For the details on this Contest, please visit the following website.

TRON Programming Contest 2025
https://www.tron.org/programming_contest-2025/

(※) μT-Kernel 3.0 is an RTOS that is fully compatible with the "IEEE 2050-2018" standard for RTOSs adopted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and it runs on microprocessors from various manufacturers. It is a member of TRON Real-time OS family which was recognized as an IEEE Milestone in 2023.

Comment of Ken Sakamura, Chair of TRON Forum

On the occasion of the “TRON Programming Contest 2025,” we have set a new theme of “TRON × AI — Utilizing AI.”
Embedded systems are currently at a major turning point. In the past, embedded systems have been only required to execute their predetermined functions accurately. However, the advancement of AI is changing this situation. We are entering an age when embedded systems are also required to adapt to the environment, learn, and make smarter decisions.

μT-Kernel 3.0 has been used worldwide as a real-time OS for embedded systems that is fully compliant with IEEE international standard. How can we use AI on this OS to create new value? This is not just a technical challenge, but also a challenge to figure out how the new embedded systems should be in the age of the IoT and edge computing.

In this contest, contestants can use the latest microprocessor boards from the special cooperating companies and cooperating companies. By combining the hardware with μT-Kernel 3.0, various possibilities can be expanded, such as AI processing on the edge side and collaboration between cloud AI and edge nodes. We are looking forward to innovative ideas from contestants that go beyond conventional embedded systems.

The advancement of technology is accelerated by the creativity of the people who use it. We hope that this contest will be a place where excellent ideas are born that will show the shape of the next generation of embedded systems.

Contact

Nobuyuki Kashiwa and Hiroyuki Yamada, TRON Forum
+81-3-5437-0572 / press@tron.org

Overview of the "TRON Programming Contest 2025" (Tentative)

Schedule

Registration entry period: from Tuesday, January 21, 2025 to Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Program submission period: from Friday, May 30, 2025 to Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Awards ceremony: December 2025 (TBD)

What are called for

Programs in the fields of applications, middleware, development environment, and tools using "µT-Kernel 3.0," the world standard TRON real-time OS (RTOS) and the latest microprocessor boards provided by four major microprocessor manufacturers. Contestants will compete in technologies that bring out the characteristics of RTOSs, such as real-time performance, power saving, and small memory footprint, as well as development environments, tools, etc. that take advantage of new technologies.
The theme of the Contest in 2025 is “TRON × AI — Utilizing AI.” We look forward to receiving your innovative submissions that incorporate AI technology.

Selection

Judging meeting will be held by the following judges.

Chief Judge
Ken Sakamura (Chair of TRON Forum, IEEE Life Fellow / Golden Core Member, IEEE Computer Society, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo)

Judges
Takashi Goto (Infineon Technologies Japan K.K.)
Paolo Oteri (STMicroelectronics K.K)
Akihiro Kuroda (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
Akira Matsui (Personal Media Corporation)

Prizes

Total amount of prizes is five million Japanese YEN.

• There will be a Grand Prize, Excellence Awards, and Special Awards for each submission category.

Eligibility

• Those who agree to the Application Rules.
• Any party including individuals, groups and corporations.
• There is no restriction on nationality, age, resident area, etc. Minor applicants shall obtain the permission of the guardian.

Application Procedures

Details on entry requirements and application procedures will be announced on the contest website.

Contest website URL

https://www.tron.org/programming_contest-2025/

Details

Organizer
TRON Forum

Special Cooperation
STMicroelectronics K.K.
Renesas Electronics Corporation

Technology Co-sponsorship
IEEE Consumer Technology Society West Japan Joint Chapter

Cooperation
INIAD collaboration Hub for University and Business (cHUB), Toyo University / Infineon Technologies Japan / Personal Media Corporation / Ubiquitous Computing Technology Corporation / Japan Embedded Systems Technology Association

TRON Forum (Chair Ken Sakamura, IEEE Life Fellow/IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Member, Dean of Faculty of Information Networking for Innovation and Design, Toyo University Director, YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo ) is pleased to announce that TRON RTOS family, has been recognized as IEEE Milestone by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

An IEEE Milestone recognizes a significant technical achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE.

The official name of the Milestone is "TRON Real-time Operating System Family, 1984." The TRON project was started in 1984 by a computer architecture project team and its partners under the leadership Ken Sakamura at the University of Tokyo. This is an open innovation project, which was rare at the time, to establish an efficient development environment for embedded systems in anticipation of the era when what we now call the IoT environment becomes commonplace. The TRON real-time OS family was planned, researched, and developed as the core of this development environment. This OS is widely used and continues to improve and evolve. The specification of a family member, µT-Kernel 2.0, has been adopted as an IEEE standard (2050-2018).

The Milestone citation reads as follows.: In 1984, a computer architecture project team at the University of Tokyo began designing The Real-time Operating system Nucleus (TRON) OS family and helping external partners commercialize it. Specifications and sample source code were provided openly and freely, facilitating innovations by developers and users. TRON real-time OS family copies have been adopted worldwide in billions of embedded computer devices, including aerospace and industrial equipment, automotive systems, and home electronics.

"IEEE Milestone recognition is a great honor for the project and its members and users of the TRON RTOS family who have produced numerous products that are part of our daily living and social infrastructure. I am delighted that our activity of TRON Project is recognized this way," Sakamura stated on this occasion.

Under Sakamura's leadership, TRON Forum will continue to provide, improve, and promote the TRON RTOS family, their development and network environment that support them so that they can be used easily in consumer markets. The Forum would like to thank the members and partners for their past cooperation and continued support in future promotional activities.

Milestone plaque dedication ceremony is being planned this fall at the University of Tokyo campus where the plaque will be permanently displayed.

About IEEE

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at https://www.ieee.org

About IEEE Milestone

The IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing program honors significant technical achievements in all areas associated with IEEE. It is a program of the IEEE History Committee, administered through the IEEE History Center. Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents.

IEEE established the Milestones Program in 1983 in conjunction with the 1984 Centennial Celebration to recognize the achievements of the Century of Giants who formed the profession and technologies represented by IEEE.

Each milestone recognizes a significant technical achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having at least regional impact. To date, more than two hundred thirty Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world.
Learn more at https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/Main_Page 

About TRON Project

TRON Project is a computer architecture development project by collaboration of industry and academia and started in 1984. Ken Sakamura (IEEE Life Fellow/IEEE Computer Society Golden Core Member, Dean of Faculty of Information Networking for Innovation And Design (INIAD), Toyo University / Director of YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory) is the project leader and the project has conducted research and development activities in RTOSs for embedded systems, their development environment, the IoT network and other topics.

The architecture, the achievement of this project, has been widely used in embedded systems in various industries ranging from consumer products such as automobile engine control, digital cameras, smartphones, etc., to industrial products including the machine control inside factories. TRON Project has proposed and promoted Open Architecture since its inception. TRON Project actively suggests standard specifications to international standardization associations such as ITU-T, ISO, and IEEE SA, and contributes to the international standardization of the infrastructure technology.

There is an NPO, TRON Forum that promotes the activities of TRON Project. For details of the project, please see its website.
https://www.tron.org/

About TRON Open Architecture

TRON Project has proposed and promoted Open Architecture since its inception. In its vision, computers based on open architecture will be embedded into many devices, and realize the IoT networking environment that supports our lives.

The results of TRON Project such as the whole source codes of TRON RTOSs including T-Kernel and μT-Kernel are published, and can be copied and modified. These outputｓ have been recognized as important element of “TRON Real-time Operating System Family, 1984” as IEEE Milestone.

International Standardization Activity by TRON Project

In addition to making open specification and open source code available, TRON Project actively suggests standard specification to international standardization associations such as ITU-T, ISO, and IEEE SA, and contributes to the international standardization of the infrastructure technology.

“IEEE 2050-2018 - IEEE Standard for a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) for Small-Scale Embedded Systems” was based on the specification of μT-Kernel 2.0, an RTOS developed by TRON Forum. The latest version, μT-Kernel 3.0, conforms to IEEE 2050-2018 completely. This again is an important element of “TRON Real-time Operating System Family, 1984” as IEEE Milestone.

TRON Project has proposed an identification system, ucode, for identifying many devices and data in the IoT age, and a code system based on it has become ITU-T Recommendations. (Y.4804/H.642.1. The project has contributed to the standardization of related standards, ITU-T Y.4551/F.771, Y.4802/H.642.2.）

• Press release (PDF)

This is a redacted / abridged version to make it shorter than the original, but it does not skip important topics covered in the original keynote speech at all.
You can also listen to this year’s keynote and other sessions remotely.
How to register: https://www.tron.org/tronshow/2022/regist/?lang=en

Supported CPU List  (as of March 12, 2021)
https://www.tron.org/tron-project/what-is-t-kernel/hwinfo/

• Added the sample code of device drivers (serial communication, A/D conversion and I2C communication).
• Added physical timer functions and memory allocation library functions.
• Improved OS function processing, etc.

The source code and a set of documents are available at the following URL of GitHub.
https://github.com/tron-forum/mtkernel_3/releases

3rd Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo Winners
https://tokyochallenge.odpt.org/2019/award/index-e.html

2018 TRON Symposium (TRONSHOW) official website
https://www.tronshow.org/index-e.html

As has been reported, IEEE Standards Association has initiated the standardization activity of microT-Kernel 2.0 as IEEE standard since December, 2017.  The draft standard became official on May 11.  After the final editing, the standard document has become available since August 24 as IEEE 2050-2018 IEEE Standard for a Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) for Small-Scale Embedded Systems.

A press release was issued by IEEE and IEEE Standards Association on September 6.

We acknowledge the contribution of many developers and many users to this standard since the days of the initial version of ITRON specification in the 1980's.

We would like to thank the parties concerned and appreciate their continuing support of TRON Project.

IEEE Press Release:
https://standards.ieee.org/news/2018/ieee-publishes-standard-real-time-architecture-iot/

Quote of a passage from the above press release:

Dr. Ken Sakamura, chair of TRON Forum, stated "I am very happy to see the RTOS standard, which has been polished ever since the 1980s when it was first created, is now adopted as IEEE standard. The OS based on the specification has been used globally in many consumer electronics and other products and is the best fit for lightweight IoT edge nodes.”