Linux kernel compaction through cold code swapping

There is a growing trend to use general-purpose operating systems like Linux in embedded systems. Previous research focused on using compaction and specialization techniques to adapt a general-purpose OS to the memory-constrained environment, presented by most, embedded systems. However, there is still room for improvement: it has been shown that even after application of the aforementioned techniques more than 50% of the kernel code remains unexecuted under normal system operation. We introduce a new technique that reduces the Linux kernel code memory footprint, through on-demand code loading of infrequently executed code, for systems that support virtual memory. In this paper, we describe our general approach, and we study code placement algorithms to minimize the performance impact of the code loading. A code, size reduction of 68% is achieved, with a 2.2% execution speedup of the system-mode execution time, for a case study based on the MediaBench II benchmark suite

Rewriting Flash Memories by Message Passing

This paper constructs WOM codes that combine rewriting and error correction for mitigating the reliability and the endurance problems in flash memory. We consider a rewriting model that is of practical interest to flash applications where only the second write uses WOM codes. Our WOM code construction is based on binary erasure quantization with LDGM codes, where the rewriting uses message passing and has potential to share the efficient hardware implementations with LDPC codes in practice. We show that the coding scheme achieves the capacity of the rewriting model. Extensive simulations show that the rewriting performance of our scheme compares favorably with that of polar WOM code in the rate region where high rewriting success probability is desired. We further augment our coding schemes with error correction capability. By drawing a connection to the conjugate code pairs studied in the context of quantum error correction, we develop a general framework for constructing error-correction WOM codes. Under this framework, we give an explicit construction of WOM codes whose codewords are contained in BCH codes.Comment: Submitted to ISIT 201

Implementing Write Compression in Flash Memory Using Zeckendorf Two-Round Rewriting Codes

Flash memory has become increasingly popular as the underlying storage technology for high-performance nonvolatile storage devices. However, while flash offers several benefits over alternative storage media, a number of limitations still exist within the current technology. One such limitation is that programming (altering a bit from its default value) and erasing (returning a bit to its default value) are asymmetric operations in flash memory devices: a flash memory can be programmed arbitrarily, but can only be erased in relatively large batches of storage bits called blocks, with block sizes ranging from 512K up to several megabytes. This creates a situation where relatively small write operations to the drive can potentially require reading out, erasing, and rewriting many times more data than the initial operation would normally require if that write would result in a bit erase operation. Prior work suggests that the performance impact of these costly block erase cycles can be mitigated by using a rewriting code, increasing the number of writes that can be performed on the same location in memory before an erase operation is required. This paper provides an implementation of this rewriting code, both as a software program written in C and as a SystemVerilog FPGA circuit specification, and discusses many of the additional design considerations that would be necessary to integrate such a rewriting code with current file storage techniques

Constant-Weight Gray Codes for Local Rank Modulation

We consider the local rank-modulation scheme in which a sliding window going over a sequence of real-valued variables induces a sequence of permutations. The local rank-modulation, as a generalization of the rank-modulation scheme, has been recently suggested as a way of storing information in flash memory. We study constant-weight Gray codes for the local rank-modulation scheme in order to simulate conventional multi-level flash cells while retaining the benefits of rank modulation. We provide necessary conditions for the existence of cyclic and cyclic optimal Gray codes. We then specifically study codes of weight 2 and upper bound their efficiency, thus proving that there are no such asymptotically-optimal cyclic codes. In contrast, we study codes of weight 3 and efficiently construct codes which are asymptotically-optimal

Reductie van het geheugengebruik van besturingssysteemkernen Memory Footprint Reduction for Operating System Kernels

In ingebedde systemen is er vaak maar een beperkte hoeveelheid geheugen beschikbaar. Daarom wordt er veel aandacht besteed aan het produceren van compacte programma's voor deze systemen, en zijn er allerhande technieken ontwikkeld die automatisch het geheugengebruik van programma's kunnen verkleinen. Tot nu toe richtten die technieken zich voornamelijk op de toepassingssoftware die op het systeem draait, en werd het besturingssysteem over het hoofd gezien. In dit proefschrift worden een aantal technieken beschreven die het mogelijk maken om op een geautomatiseerde manier het geheugengebruik van een besturingssysteemkern gevoelig te verkleinen. Daarbij wordt in eerste instantie gebruik gemaakt van compactietransformaties tijdens het linken. Als we de hardware en software waaruit het systeem samengesteld is kennen, is het mogelijk om nog verdere reducties te bekomen. Daartoe wordt de kern gespecialiseerd voor een bepaalde hardware-software combinatie. Overbodige functionaliteit wordt opgespoord en uit de kern verwijderd, terwijl de resterende functionaliteit wordt aangepast aan de specifieke gebruikspatronen die uit de hardware en software kunnen afgeleid worden. Als laatste worden technieken voorgesteld die het mogelijk maken om weinig of niet uitgevoerde code (bijvoorbeeld code voor het afhandelen van slechts zeldzaam optredende foutcondities) uit het geheugen te verwijderen. Deze code wordt dan enkel ingeladen op het moment dat ze effectief nodig is. Voor ons testsysteem kunnen we met de gecombineerde technieken het geheugengebruik van een Linux 2.4 kern met meer dan 48% verminderen

Constant-Weight Gray Codes for Local Rank Modulation

We consider the local rank-modulation scheme in which a sliding window going over a sequence of real-valued variables induces a sequence of permutations. Local rank- modulation is a generalization of the rank-modulation scheme, which has been recently suggested as a way of storing information in flash memory. We study constant-weight Gray codes for the local rank- modulation scheme in order to simulate conventional multi-level flash cells while retaining the benefits of rank modulation. We provide necessary conditions for the existence of cyclic and cyclic optimal Gray codes. We then specifically study codes of weight 2 and upper bound their efficiency, thus proving that there are no such asymptotically-optimal cyclic codes. In contrast, we study codes of weight 3 and efficiently construct codes which are asymptotically-optimal. We conclude with a construction of codes with asymptotically-optimal rate and weight asymptotically half the length, thus having an asymptotically-optimal charge difference between adjacent cells

Energy Saving Techniques for Phase Change Memory (PCM)

In recent years, the energy consumption of computing systems has increased and a large fraction of this energy is consumed in main memory. Towards this, researchers have proposed use of non-volatile memory, such as phase change memory (PCM), which has low read latency and power; and nearly zero leakage power. However, the write latency and power of PCM are very high and this, along with limited write endurance of PCM present significant challenges in enabling wide-spread adoption of PCM. To address this, several architecture-level techniques have been proposed. In this report, we review several techniques to manage power consumption of PCM. We also classify these techniques based on their characteristics to provide insights into them. The aim of this work is encourage researchers to propose even better techniques for improving energy efficiency of PCM based main memory.Comment: Survey, phase change RAM (PCRAM

Dynamic Reconfiguration for Software and Hardware Heterogeneous Real-time WSN

International audienceWireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology has imposed itself in civilian and industrial applications as a promising technology for wireless monitoring due to its wireless connectivity, removing many hardware constraints. Initially used in low frequency sampling applications, the increasing performances of electronic circuits has driven WSNs to integrate more powerful computation units, paving the way for a new generation of applications based on distributed computation. These new applications (process control, active control, visual surveillance, multimedia streaming) involving medium to heavy computation present real-time requirements at node level where reactivity becomes a primary concern as well as at the network level where latency must be bounded. In this paper, we present the implementation of a high-level language MinTax coupled with an in-situ compilation solution for real time Operating Systems enabling energy-aware dynamic reconfiguration while supporting hardware heterogeneity in Wireless Sensor Networks