HeapGuard, eliminating garbage collection in real-time Ada systems

Abstract

The authors introduce HeapGuard, a heap management system which eliminates the problem of garbage collection in real-time systems. The sources of garbage and traditional garbage collection are reviewed. The HeapGuard scheme and optional hardware are presented. It is concluded that, in real-time computer systems, heap memory could be managed using HeapGuard to provide predictable timing and eliminate storage errors due to fragmentation. If feasible, a coprocessor could be provided to manage the dynamic memory and increase system throughput. If the application program is known to store only small objects, then a software-only implementation could be effective. If the application program is known to store many large objects in dynamic memory then the coprocessor could provide and manage a set of pointers to these large objects. If the program stores many small and many large objects, then a software-only heap for the small objects and an address pointer based heap for large objects could be provided.<>