Application-Driven Memory Partitioning

Abstract

As already mentioned in Chapter 4, on-chip caches are perhaps the most widely used architectural solution in memory design. A valid alternative to caches, in embedded systems, is given by the use of plain on-chip SRAMs as application-specific memories (ASMs), that statically map the most frequently accessed addresses to guarantee energy (and performance) efficiency. ASMs are particularly advantageous in real-time embedded systems for data-intensive applications, where access patterns can be profiled and studied at design time, and where caches are known to perform sub-optimally and to reduce predictability in real-time performance.