Heap calculation

Kernel
1

taugustinus wrote on Monday, September 04, 2006:

Hi,
I have read the pages regarding memory allocation, but the real heap use on the target is quite a bit higher than expected - I hope You can help me understand why.

Port: ARM on LPC2000

When I do not start any tasks - just start the scheduler - and then stop the target, the xNextFreeByte is 580. If I start one task with minimal task size of 128, I get 1160 (ie. 580 bytes extra). Starting two tasks results in 1740 (ie. 2x580bytes).

Here are my settings:

#define configUSE_PREEMPTION  1
#define configUSE_IDLE_HOOK 0
#define configUSE_TICK_HOOK 0
#define configCPU_CLOCK_HZ  ( ( unsigned portLONG ) 49152000 ) /* 12.288MHz*4 */
#define configTICK_RATE_HZ  ( ( portTickType ) 100 )
#define configMAX_PRIORITIES  ( ( unsigned portBASE_TYPE ) 4 )
#define configMINIMAL_STACK_SIZE  ( ( unsigned portSHORT ) 128 )
#define configTOTAL_HEAP_SIZE ( ( size_t ) 4024 )
          //Allocate 83 for scheduler
          //Allocate 16 per priority
          //Allocate 26+stacksize per task
          //Allocate 45+queuesize per queue
#define configMAX_TASK_NAME_LEN ( 8 )
#define configUSE_TRACE_FACILITY  0
#define configUSE_16_BIT_TICKS  0
#define configIDLE_SHOULD_YIELD 1

// - Co-routine definitions -
#define configUSE_CO_ROUTINES 0
#define configMAX_CO_ROUTINE_PRIORITIES ( 2 )

I hope You can help me understand

Thanks

Thomas Augustinus

2

nobody wrote on Monday, September 04, 2006:

Starting the scheduler will automatically create the idle task which is way some heap space is taken.

A stack size of 128 on ARM will result in 128 * 4 bytes being used, as each stack item is byte byts (32bits).  The little extra allocated is due to the allocation of the TCB for the task.

3

nobody wrote on Monday, September 04, 2006:

stack depth is defined in 32bit words, so you have 128 * 4 + memory for task list element. Minimal stack of thread is 18 (16 32bit-registers R0-R15, SPSR and nesting word) I think.

Janusz
P.S. Please about confirmation…

4

taugustinus wrote on Monday, September 04, 2006:

Thanks for Your replies!

You are ofcause right - it all adds up…

I have now looked at the code and found that the following is the case on ARM - so others may avoid tearing their hair out :slight_smile:

The stack is allocated as a tskTCB struct - 68 bytes + TaskStackSize*portLONG which is defined as long that again is a signed 32-bit on ARM.

So each task takes up 68+stack*4 bytes.

Thanks for the hint.

Best Regards
Thomas Augustinus

5

taugustinus wrote on Monday, September 04, 2006:

Regarding the minimum stack size -
And the minimum stack use appears to be 79bytes on the ARM - ie. 20 32-bit words.

It is purely experimental (the pxCurrentTCB turned out to be a valuable tool) tested with an empty task ( void task(void*){while(1){}} ).

So, You were right Janusz :slight_smile:
Thanks,