Debugging Embedded and Real-Time Systems

12: Memory systems

Abstract

The final chapter of the book examines memory systems and the type of defects that might be found in them. In particular, it looks at problems that may arise with dynamic RAM devices (DRAMs) and how to analyze these problems.

Keywords

Soft errors; Jitter; Eye diagram; Cosmic rays; FIT; Alpha particles

Introduction

You could say that we’ve saved the best for last. Memory is the heart of your system. As with most aspects of embedded systems, memory debugging has a hardware and a software component. Before we can debug software issues, we need to make certain that the hardware is both functional and reliable. Therefore, I would argue that the first testing and possible debugging that should be done must be the processor-to-memory ...