Software Techniques for Scratchpad Memory Management

Scratchpad memory is commonly encountered in embedded systems as an alternative or supplement to caches [3], however, cache-containing architectures continue to be preferred in many applications due to their general ease of programmability. A language-agnostic software management system is envisioned that improves portability to scratchpad architectures and significantly lowers power consumption of ported applications. We review a selection of existing techniques, discuss their applicability to various memory systems, and identify opportunities for applying new methods and optimizations to improve memory management on relevant architectures.