GoKawiilBenchmark pits Embassy/Rust against FreeRTOS/C on STM32F446 microcontroller
A technical blog post compares two embedded RTOS approaches—Embassy running async Rust and FreeRTOS running C—on the same STM32F446ZET6 chip clocked at 180MHz. Both implementations run equivalent applications and are measured for interrupt latency, program size, RAM usage and programming ease, using an oscilloscope for timing measurements.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Choosing between traditional RTOS-based C firmware and newer async Rust frameworks is a real decision facing embedded developers, and concrete performance data is scarce compared to abstract language debates. This kind of practical, reproducible comparison helps engineers weigh memory footprint and latency tradeoffs when picking a toolchain for resource-constrained microcontrollers.
- Embassy (async Rust) is benchmarked directly against FreeRTOS (C) on the same STM32F446 hardware.
- Comparison criteria include interrupt latency, program size, RAM usage, and developer ergonomics.
- Rust's async functions compile into pollable state machines, a core mechanic explained as background for the benchmark.
STMicroelectronics NUCLEO-F446RE Development Board — This is the exact STM32F446 family board you'd want to replicate the article's Embassy/Rust vs. FreeRTOS/C showdown yourself. It has an onboard ST-LINK debugger so you can flash and measure interrupt latency without extra hardware, and Arduino/morpho headers make wiring test pins easy. A great, cheap playground for benchmarking async executors against a classic RTOS.
See STMicroelectronics NUCLEO-F446RE Development Board on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: tweedegolf.nl, 2026-09-02
Published there as: “Embedded Rust RTOS vs. C RTOS”
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