Performance Improvement for Flash Memories Using Loop Optimization

Flash memories have advanced features such as non-volatility, fast access speed, and low power consumption that they are adopted in various ubiquitous portable devices. However, the speed of writing on flash memory is relatively slower than that of reading, and extensive research efforts are devoted to overcome these restrictions, mostly in the field of flash translation layers (FTLs). This paper proposes an orthogonal approach of reducing flash memory writing time, by detecting and eliminating unnecessary write operations before execution of embedded applications. For this purpose, we extend static analysis techniques previously used in the compilers for program optimization. Our research focuses on loop blocks, which are usually used for massive data management and likely to efficiently enhance performance when improved. As a result, we show that the proposed method reduces the amount of data to be written and improves the writing performance for flash memories.