I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect the performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. Any other idea for the task? Thank you.
Looking for a tools to report memory usage
Started by ●March 11, 2011
Reply by ●March 11, 20112011-03-11
On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:23:36 -0800, Like2Learn wrote:> I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect the > performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > > I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > > BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory > usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. > > Any other idea for the task?A good part of the total should be statically allocated memory. For that you can just look at the map file -- it should spell out how much memory is used. If you're not using the heap, then the next problem down is stack space. I _think_ there are tools that estimate this, but all I've ever done is fill the stack with 0xf00d or 0xdeadbeef or whatever, and look for the high water mark. If you are using the heap but only to allocate at startup, then you need to use a heap manager that's instrumented. Look around -- everyone and their brother has written a 'malloc' at some point in their lives, some of them are even instrumented. If you are using the heap, and you're not just using it to allocate memory at startup and never deallocate it, then you're eventually going to kill the app from heap fragmentation anyway, so there's no point in measuring. -- http://www.wescottdesign.com
Reply by ●March 11, 20112011-03-11
On 3/10/2011 9:23 PM, Like2Learn wrote:> I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect > the performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > > I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > > BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory > usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. > > Any other idea for the task?Since it is a "legacy embedded product", it already exists and is (or was) in production. Why not look at the bill of materials and see how much physical memory it *had* previously?
Reply by ●March 11, 20112011-03-11
Tim Wescott wrote:> On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:23:36 -0800, Like2Learn wrote: > >> I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I >> want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I >> can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect the >> performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. >> >> I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can >> help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running >> it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic >> software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. >> >> BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory >> usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. >> >> Any other idea for the task? > > ... > If you're not using the heap, then the next problem down is stack space. > I _think_ there are tools that estimate this, but all I've ever done is > fill the stack with 0xf00d or 0xdeadbeef or whatever, and look for the > high water mark.Some compilers can tell you the stack size for each function, and perhaps even for a whole call tree. GCC has the option -fstack-usage. The IAR compiler may have such an option, too. There are also tools that use static analysis of the machine code to compute an upper bound on stack usage, for example Bound-T (from my company), www.bound-t.com, or the other tools listed at http://www.bound-t.com/stack-usage-tools.html. But these tools only support certain processors, and (like the compiler-given stack sizes) can fail if the program is recursive or allocates stack space in very dynamic ways, for example with the alloca function. You say that too little SDRAM may "affect the performance". This suggests that your program uses heap memory heavily and dynamically, or that you have a virtual-memory machine with a backing store (swap device). There has been research on static analysis to compute bounds on heap usage, but I don't know of any available tools for that. If the program itself adjusts its heap usage to fit the available memory, I don't think any general static analysis could tell you how much memory is needed for "good" performance. HTH -- Niklas Holsti Tidorum Ltd niklas holsti tidorum fi . @ .
Reply by ●March 11, 20112011-03-11
In message <3d3001b1-1013-4bf1-b419-aa2eafe7d848@r4g2000prm.googlegroups .com>, Like2Learn <like2learn@live.ca> writes>I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I >want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I >can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect >the performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > >I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can >help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running >it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic >software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > >BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory >usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR.Load the IAR compiler. They usually come complete with C-spy debugger/simulator. That will give you all the answers you need along with the map file. Which target is it for? -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Reply by ●March 12, 20112011-03-12
On 11.03.2011 05:23, Like2Learn wrote:> I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect > the performance, while not too big to affect the BOM.Because pretty much everyone using a compiler for embedded targets wants to know that, every linker worth its salt reports that in its map file. Your bad if the legacy code base wasn't stored along with the original map files.> I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > software analysis ability from a static analysis tools.No, you're requesting you get that compiler _now_. The only static analysis tool that will reliably reproduce the memory allocations of an actual compiler and linker are that same compiler and linker.
Reply by ●March 14, 20112011-03-14
I found out and checked the map file. Thanks! However, this application deals with network, and quite some memory are allocated dynamically, so the map file won't reflect the true RAM usage. Possibly the only way to check the RAM usage is to trace and debug the application. On Mar 10, 10:48=A0pm, Tim Wescott <t...@seemywebsite.com> wrote:> On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:23:36 -0800, Like2Learn wrote: > > I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > > want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > > can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect the > > performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > > > I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > > help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > > it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > > software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > > > BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory > > usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. > > > Any other idea for the task? > > A good part of the total should be statically allocated memory. =A0For th=at> you can just look at the map file -- it should spell out how much memory > is used. > > If you're not using the heap, then the next problem down is stack space. ==A0> I _think_ there are tools that estimate this, but all I've ever done is > fill the stack with 0xf00d or 0xdeadbeef or whatever, and look for the > high water mark. > > If you are using the heap but only to allocate at startup, then you need > to use a heap manager that's instrumented. =A0Look around -- everyone and > their brother has written a 'malloc' at some point in their lives, some > of them are even instrumented. > > If you are using the heap, and you're not just using it to allocate > memory at startup and never deallocate it, then you're eventually going > to kill the app from heap fragmentation anyway, so there's no point in > measuring. > > --http://www.wescottdesign.com
Reply by ●March 14, 20112011-03-14
Cause my boss and I are cheap, and we want to cut the BOM cost by using slower CPUs and use less RAM. On Mar 11, 12:02=A0am, D Yuniskis <not.going.to...@seen.com> wrote:> On 3/10/2011 9:23 PM, Like2Learn wrote: > > > I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > > want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > > can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect > > the performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > > > I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > > help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > > it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > > software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > > > BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory > > usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. > > > Any other idea for the task? > > Since it is a "legacy embedded product", it already exists and is > (or was) in production. =A0Why not look at the bill of materials and > see how much physical memory it *had* previously?
Reply by ●March 14, 20112011-03-14
Sounds interesting! I may give your product a try. Thank you. On Mar 11, 2:10=A0am, Niklas Holsti <niklas.hol...@tidorum.invalid> wrote:> Tim Wescott wrote: > > On Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:23:36 -0800, Like2Learn wrote: > > >> I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > >> want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > >> can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect th=e> >> performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > > >> I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > >> help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > >> it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > >> software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > > >> BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory > >> usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. > > >> Any other idea for the task? > > > ... > > If you're not using the heap, then the next problem down is stack space=. =A0> > I _think_ there are tools that estimate this, but all I've ever done is > > fill the stack with 0xf00d or 0xdeadbeef or whatever, and look for the > > high water mark. > > Some compilers can tell you the stack size for each function, and > perhaps even for a whole call tree. GCC has the option -fstack-usage. > The IAR compiler may have such an option, too. > > There are also tools that use static analysis of the machine code to > compute an upper bound on stack usage, for example Bound-T (from my > company),www.bound-t.com, or the other tools listed athttp://www.bound-t.=com/stack-usage-tools.html. But these tools only> support certain processors, and (like the compiler-given stack sizes) > can fail if the program is recursive or allocates stack space in very > dynamic ways, for example with the alloca function. > > You say that too little SDRAM may "affect the performance". This > suggests that your program uses heap memory heavily and dynamically, or > that you have a virtual-memory machine with a backing store (swap > device). There has been research on static analysis to compute bounds on > heap usage, but I don't know of any available tools for that. If the > program itself adjusts its heap usage to fit the available memory, I > don't think any general static analysis could tell you how much memory > is needed for "good" performance. > > HTH > > -- > Niklas Holsti > Tidorum Ltd > niklas holsti tidorum fi > =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0. =A0 =A0 =A0@ =A0 =A0 =A0 .- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text -
Reply by ●March 14, 20112011-03-14
Sounds good to me. I will give it a shot. On Mar 11, 9:44=A0am, Chris H <ch...@phaedsys.org> wrote:> In message <3d3001b1-1013-4bf1-b419-aa2eafe7d...@r4g2000prm.googlegroups > .com>, Like2Learn <like2le...@live.ca> writes > > >I have a legacy embedded product written by C under IAR workbench. I > >want to know how much memory the program will consume on-the-fly, so I > >can decide a suitable size of SDRAM for it, not too small to affect > >the performance, while not too big to affect the BOM. > > >I don't have IAR workbench installed yet. Is there any tool that can > >help me to estimate the memory usage of a program even without running > >it in the target hardware? It sounds like I am requesting a dynamic > >software analysis ability from a static analysis tools. > > >BTW, is there any tools in IAR workbench that can report the memory > >usage of a running program? I am not familiar with IAR. > > Load the IAR compiler. =A0They usually come complete with C-spy > debugger/simulator. =A0 That will give you all the answers you need along > with the map file. > > Which target is it for? > > -- > \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ > \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills =A0Staffs =A0England =A0 =A0 /\/\/\/\/ > \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
