Storage Allocation for Real-Time, Embedded Systems

Steven M. Donahue, Matthew P. Hampton, Morgan Deters, Jonathan M. Nye, Ron K. Cytron, and Krishna M. Kavi

In Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Embedded Software (EMSOFT 2001).
Published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 2211, pp. 131-147 (Springer-Verlag).

Dynamic storage allocation and automatic garbage collection are among the most popular features that high-level languages can offer. However, time-critical applications cannot be written in such languages unless the time taken to allocate and deallocate storage can be reasonably bounded. In this paper, we present algorithms for automatic storage allocation that are appropriate for real-time and embedded systems. We have implemented these algorithms, and results are presented that validate the predictability and efficiency of our approach.

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