Efficient type and memory safety for tiny embedded systems

We report our experience in implementing type and memory safety in an efficient manner for sensor network nodes running TinyOS: tiny embedded systems running legacy, C-like code. A compiler for a safe language must often insert dynamic checks into the programs it produces; these generally make programs both larger and slower. In this paper, we describe our novel compiler toolchain, which uses a family of techniques to minimize or avoid these run-time costs. Our results show that safety can in fact be implemented cheaply on low-end 8-bit microcontrollers.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ASPLOS
• Authors: John Regehr, Nathan Cooprider, Will Archer, Eric Eide
• Keywords: ASPLOS 2006, Low-end 8-bit Microcontrollers, Nodes Running Tinyos, Programming Languages, Systems Running Legacy