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Chapter -4 :RTES Memory Management

Real time and Embedded Systems

B.Sc(SE), 2023
By Mikru L
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 Memory Management in Embedded Systems
 In embedded systems, memory management is a crucial aspect of
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designing and programming.

 Microcontrollers, such as the ATmega32 used in Arduino boards, have
limited memory resources that must be carefully managed to ensure
efficient and reliable operation.
 Embedded systems developers commonly implement custom memory-
management facilities on top of what the underlying RTOS provides
 Understanding memory management is therefore an important aspect
Common Requirements
 Regardless of the type of embedded system, the requirements placed on
a memory management system
 Minimal fragmentation
 Minimal management overhead
 Deterministic allocation time
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 Memory Map
 All processes store their programs and data in memory.
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 In some cases, this memory resides on the very same chip

as the processor.
 But, more often it is located in external memory chips.
 These chips are located in the processor’s memory space,
and then processors communicate with them by way of
two sets of electric wires called the address bus and the
data bus.
 To read or write a particular location in memory, the
processor first writes the desired address onto the address
bus.
 The data is then transferred over the data bus.
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 Types of Memory and Applications:
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 Most software developers think of memory as being either

random-access(RAM) or Read-Only(ROM).
 But, in fact, there are subtypes of each and even a third class of
hybrid memories.
 In a RAM device, the data stored at each memory location can
be read or written, as desired.
 In a ROM device, the data stored at each memory location can
be read at will but never written.
 In some cases, it is possible to overwrite the data in a ROM-
like device.
 Such devices are called hybrid memories because they exhibit
some of the characteristics of both RAM and ROM.
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Common Memory Types in Embedded Systems
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 Types of RAM:
 There are two important memory devices in the RAM family:
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SRAM and DRAM.

 The main difference between them is the lifetime of the data
stored.
 SRAM (static RAM) retains its contents as long as electrical
power is applied to the chip.
 However, if the power is turned off or lost temporarily then its
contents will be lost forever.
 The main difference between them is the lifetime of the data
stored.
• SRAM (static RAM) retains its contents as long as electrical
power is applied to the chip.
• However, if the power is turned off or lost temporarily then its
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contents will be lost forever.
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 Types of RAM:
 DRAM (dynamic RAM), on the other hand, has an extremely
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short data lifetime-usually less than a quarter of a second.

 This is true even when power is applied constantly.
 But, using hardware called a DRAM controller can be used to
make DRAM behave more like SRAM.
 The job of the DRAM controller is to periodically refresh the
data stored in the DRAM.
 By refreshing the data several times a second, the DRAM
controller keeps the contents of memory alive for as long as
they are needed.
 So, DRAM is as useful as SRAM after all.

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 Types of RAM:
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The decision to make which type of RAM to use:

•When deciding which type of RAM to use, a system
designer must consider access time and cost.
•RAM devices offer extremely fast access times
(approximately four times faster than DRAM) but are much
more expensive to produce.
•Generally, SRAM is used only where access speed is
extremely important.
•A lower cost per byte makes DRAM attractive whenever
large amounts of RAM are required.

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 Types of ROM:
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erasable-and-programmable.
 A common feature across all these devices is their ability to
retain data and programs forever, even during a power failure.
Masked ROM:
 The contents of the ROM had to be specified before chip
production, so the actual data could be used to arrange the
transistors inside the chip!
 Hardwired memories are still used, though they are now
called “masked ROMs” to distinguish them from other types
of ROM.
 The main advantage of a masked ROM is its low production
cost.
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 PROM:
 One step up from the masked ROM is the PROM
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(programmable ROM), which is purchased in an

unprogrammed state.
 The process of writing your data to the PROM involves a
special piece of equipment called a device programmer.
 Once a PROM has been programmed in this way, its
contents can never be changed.
 If the code or data stored in the PROM must be changed,
the current device must be discarded.
 As a result, PROMs are also known as one-time
programmable (OTP) devices.
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 EPROM:
 Is programmed in exactly the same manner as a PROM.
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 EPROMs can be erased and reprogrammed repeatedly.

 To erase an EPROM, you simply expose the device to a
strong source of ultraviolet light.
 There is a “window” in the top of the device to let the
ultraviolet light reach the silicon.) By doing this, you
essentially reset the entire chip to its initial-
unprogrammed-state.
 Though more expensive than PROMs.

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 Hybrid Types:

EEPROM:
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EEPROMs are electrically-erasable-and programmable.

Any byte within an EEPROM can be erased and rewritten.
Once written, the new data will remain in the device
forever-or at least until it is electrically erased.
The tradeoff for this improved functionality is mainly higher
cost.
Write cycles are also significantly longer than writes to a
RAM, so you wouldn’t want to use an EEPROM for your
main system memory.

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 Flash Memory:
 Flash memory is the most recent advancement in-memory
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technology.
 Flash memory devices are high density, low cost, nonvolatile, fast
(to read, but not to write), and electrically reprogrammable.
 These advantages are overwhelming and the use of Flash memory
has increased dramatically in embedded systems.
 From a software viewpoint, Flash and EEPROM technologies are
very similar.
 The major difference is that Flash devices can be erased only one
sector at a time, not byte by byte.
 Typical sector sizes are in the range of 256 bytes to 16 kilobytes.
Despite this disadvantage, Flash is much more popular than
EEPROM and is rapidly displacing many of the ROM devices as
well.
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 NVRAM:
 The third member of the hybrid memory class is
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NVRAM (nonvolatile RAM).

 An NVRAM is usually just an SRAM with a battery
backup.
 When the power is turned on, the NVRAM operates just
like any other SRAM.
 But when the power is turned off, the NVRAM draws
just enough electrical power from the battery to retain its
current contents.
 NVRAM is fairly common in embedded systems.

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 Memory Device Characteristics:
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 Working with Flash Memory
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 Reading data from a Flash memory is fast and is not all

that different from reading from any other memory
device.
 The erase and write cycles take longer than the read
cycle.
 So if a read is attempted in the middle of one of those
operations, the result will be either delayed or incorrect,
depending on the device.
 Writing data to a Flash is much harder. Three factors
make writes difficult.
– each memory location must be erased before it can be
rewritten.
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 Working with Flash Memory
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 only one sector, or block, of the device can be erased

at a time; it is impossible to erase a single byte.
 The size of an individual sector varies by device
 the process of erasing the old data and writing the new
varies from one manufacturer to another and is usually
rather complicated.
• it is usually best to add a layer of software to make
the Flash memory easier to use.
• If implemented, this hardware- specific layer of
software is usually called the Flash driver.
 Because it can be difficult to write data to the Flash
device, it often to create a flash driver.
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 Working with Flash Memory
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 The purpose of the Flash driver is to hide the details of a specific

 This driver should present a simple application programming

 Because the Flash memory provides nonvolatile storage that is also

rewriteable,
• it can be thought of as similar to any other secondary storage system,
such as a hard drive.
• In the files system case, the functions provided by the driver would be
more file-oriented.
• Standard file system functions like open, close, read, and write provide

• The underlying file system structure can be as simple or complex as your

• A well-understood format like the File Allocation Table (FAT) structure

• used by DOS is good enough for most embedded ©projects

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 Dynamic Memory Allocation
in Embedded Systems
 The program code, program data, and system stack occupy
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the physical memory after program initialization completes

 The kernel uses the remaining physical memory for
dynamic memory allocation. – heap
 Contiguous vs. non-contiguous block of physical memory
 Maintains internal information for a heap in a reserved
memory area
– The starting address of the physical memory block used
for dynamic memory allocation
– The size of this physical memory block
– Allocation table indicates which memory areas are in
use, which memory areas are free
– The size of each free region
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 Typical Implementation
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 The heap is broken into small, fixed-size blocks.

 Each block has a unit size that is power of two to
ease translating a requested size into the
corresponding required number of units
 The dynamic memory allocation function, malloc, has
an input parameter that specifies the size of the
allocation request in bit
 malloc allocates a larger block, which is made up of
one or more of the smaller, fixed-size blocks.
 The size of this larger memory block is at least as
large as the requested size;
 it is the closest to the multiple of the unit size .
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 States of a Memory Allocation Map
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 Memory Allocation Map with Possible
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Fragmentation BIHE university

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 Problems with Memory Compaction
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 Is allowed if the tasks that own those memory

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blocks reference the blocks using virtual

addresses
 Time-consuming
 The tasks that currently hold ownership of those
memory blocks are prevented from accessing the
contents of those memory locations
 Almost never done in practice in embedded
designs
 The free memory blocks are combined only if
they are immediate neighbors
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 Needs of an Efficient Memory Manager
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 An efficient memory manager needs to perform

the following chores quickly:
– Determine if a free block that is large enough
exists to satisfy the allocation request.
(malloc)
– Update the internal management information
(malloc and free).
– Determine if the just-freed block can be
combined with its neighboring free blocks to
form a larger piece. (free)
– The structure of the allocation table is the
key to efficient memory management
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 An Example of malloc and free
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• Static array implementation of the allocation map

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 Finding Free Blocks Quickly
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• Always allocates from the largest available range

of free blocks
• The sizes of free blocks within the allocation
array are maintained using the heap data
structure
• Each node in the heap contain the size of a free
range and its starting index in the allocation array

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 The malloc Operation
• Examine the heap to determine if a free block that is
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large enough for the allocation request exists.

• If no such block exists, return an error to the
caller.
• Retrieve the starting allocation-array index of the
free range from the top of the heap.
• Update the allocation array
• If the entire block is used to satisfy the
allocation, update the heap by deleting the largest
node. Otherwise update the size.
• Rearrange the heap array

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 The free Operation
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 Update the allocation array and merge neighboring

blocks if possible.
 If the newly freed block cannot be merged with any of
its neighbors, insert a new entry into the heap array.
 If the newly freed block can be merged with one of its
neighbors, the heap entry representing the neighboring
block must be updated, and the updated entry
rearranged according to its new size.
 If the newly freed block can be merged with both of its
neighbors, the heap entry representing one of the
neighboring blocks must be deleted from the heap, and
the heap entry representing the other neighboring
block must be updated and rearranged according to its
new size. © 2011 Pearson Higher Education,
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 Fixed-Size Memory Management in Embedded Systems
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• Management based on memory pools

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 Fixed-Size Memory Management in Embedded Systems
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Advantages
more deterministic than the heap method
algorithm (constant time)
provide high utilization for static embedded
applications
Disadvantages
This issue results in increased internal memory
fragmentation per allocation for embedded
applications that constantly operate in dynamic
environments

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 Blocking vs. Non-Blocking Memory Functions
 If tasks know that the memory congestion
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condition can occur but only momentarily,

 and it can tolerate the allocation delay,
the tasks can choose to wait for memory to
become available instead of either failing
entirely or backtracking
 In practice, a well-designed memory
allocation function should allow for
allocation that permits blocking forever,
blocking for a timeout period, or no
blocking at all.

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 Blocking Allocation/Deallocation
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 Pseudo code for memory allocation

Acquire(Counting_Semaphore) Lock(mutex)
 Retrieve the memory block from the pool
Unlock(mutex)
 Pseudo code for memory deallocation
 Lock(mutex)
 Release the memory block back to into the pool
Unlock(mutex)
 Release(Counting_Semaphore)

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 Memory Leak Detection
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 An error in a program's dynamic-store

allocation logic that causes it to fail to reclaim
discarded memory, leading to eventual collapse
due to memory exhaustion
 How to detect memory leak?
 employ special debugging libraries to ensure
their correct behavior in term of memory use
 Mtrace, Electric Fence, dmalloc,
 MEMWATCH
 hardware tools
 Logic analyzer, ICE
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 mtrace
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 A feature of the GNU C library

 Implemented as a function call, mtrace()
 Detection of memory leaks caused by unbalanced
malloc/free calls
 Creates a log file of addresses malloc'd and freed
Electric Fence
 It is a library that replaces the C library’s
memory allocation functions, such as malloc(), and
free(), with equivalent functions that implement
limit testing
 Very effective at detecting out-of-bounds memory
reference
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 dmalloc
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• A library
• Designed as a drop-in substitute for malloc,
realloc, calloc, free and other memory
management functions
• Keep track debug information about your
pointer
• Verify the debug information and logged on
errors.

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 Hardware Design Challenges
 High Power Dissipation: An embedded hardware system
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needs an increasing number of transistors with an acceptable

power consumption ratio.
 Security Concern: Security is a major concern in IoT devices.
 Cost Considerations:
 Size Constraints:
 Testing:
Challenges in embedded system design
 How much hardware do we need?
 How big is the CPU? Memory?
 How do we meet our deadlines?
 Faster hardware or cleverer software?
 How do we minimize power?
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 Hardware Design Challenges
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 Turn off unnecessary logic? Reduce memory

accesses?
 Does the implementation meet the specification?
 How do we test for real-time characteristics?
 How do we test on real data?
 How do we work on the system?
 Observability, controllability?
 What is our development platform?
Hardware implementation advantages
(i)Reduced memory for the program
(ii)Reduced number of chips but at an increased cost
(iii) Internally embedded codes, more secure than at
the external ROM

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 Software of Embedded System
 Embedded System: Hardware and Software
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Embedded software:
 It is a program that controls the ES.
 Program is a piece of code written to perform a
task means it is going to perform some action.
 So its based on the time settings and the based
on the intervals So it's just a software
program.
 It is a piece of code written to perform a task
 so written speech specifically for the
particular hardware that is runs on so whatever
the hardware we have taken if you want to work
if you want to run that hardware we need
 software is a program which controls all the
hardware's .
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 Software of Embedded System
Embedded software example:
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Hidden in watches
Cellular phones
VCS, toaster
Guide the missile
Control satellite, use in medical instrument
Software complexity:
8-bit microcontroller with just a few kilo
byte of memory
(controlling lighting in the home by using
remote or by chip)
complex embedded software(in aircrafts,
missile guidance
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 Embedded software design process
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END of The
CHAPTER

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