• Journal of KIISE:Computer Systems and Theory
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.599-609
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• 2007

Due to the restrictions of Flash memory such as overwrite limitation and write/erase operational unit differences, block cleaning is required in Flash memory based file systems and known as a key factor on the performance of file systems. In this paper, we identify three parameters, namely utilization, invalidity and uniformity, and analyze how the parameters affect the cost of block cleaning. The analysis show that as uniformity degrades, the cost of block cleaning increases drastically. To overcome this problem, we design a new modification-aware(MODA) page allocation scheme that strives to keep uniformity high by separating frequently-updating data from infrequently-updating data. Real implementation experiments conducted on an embedded system show that the MODA scheme can actually enhance uniformity of Flash memory, which consequently leads to reduce the cost of block cleaning with an average of 123%, compared to the traditional sequential allocation scheme that is used in YAFFS.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.9-18
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• 2013

Flash memory is mostly used on smart devices and embedded systems because of its nonvolatile memory, low power, quick I/O, resistant shock, and other benefits. Generally the typical file systems base on the NAND flash memory are YAFFS2, JFFS2, UBIFS, and etc. In this paper, we had variously made an experiment regarding I/O performance using our schemes and the UBIFS of the latest Linux Kernel. The proposed I/O performance analyses were classified as a sequential access and a random access. Our experiment consists of 6 cases using kmalloc(), vmalloc(), and kmem_cache(). As a result of our experiment analyses, the sequential reading and the sequential rewriting increased by 12%, 11% when the Case 2 has applied vmalloc() and kmalloc() to the UBI subsystem and the UBIFS. Also, the performance improved more by 7.82%, 6.90% than the Case 1 at the random read and the random write.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.251-255
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• 2008

In most file systems, if a file is deleted, only the metadata of the file is deleted or modified and the file's data is still stored on the physical media. Some users require that deleted files no longer be accessible. This requirement is more important in embedded systems that employ flash memory as a storage medium. In this paper, we propose a secure deletion method for NAND flash file system and apply the method to YAFFS. Our method uses encryption to delete files and forces all keys of a specific file to be stored in the same block. Therefore, only one erase operation is required to securely delete a file. Our simulation results show that the amortized number of block erases is smaller than the simple encryption method. Even though we apply our method only to the YAFFS, our method can be easily applied to other NAND flash file systems.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
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• v.14A no.4
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• pp.235-244
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• 2007

Caching and prefetching policies have been used in most of computer systems to compensate speed differences between primary memory and secondary storage devices. In this paper, we design and implement a Flash Cache Core Module(FCCM) on the YAFFS which operates on a file system layer for NAND flash memory. The FCCM is independent of the underlying kernel in order to support its stability and compatibility. Also, we implement the Dirty-Last memory replacement technique considering the characteristics of flash memory, and the waiting queue for pages to be prefetched according to page hit. The FCCM reduced the number of I/Os and the amount of prefetched pages by maximum 55%(20% on average) and maximum 55%(24% on average), respectively, comparing with caching and prefetching policies of Linux.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.241-245
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• 2008

Non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) has both characteristics of nonvolatility and byte addressability. In order to efficiently exploit this NVRAM in the file system layer, we proposed the MiNV (Metadata in NVram) file system in our previous research. MiNV file system maintains all the metadata in NVRAM while storing file data in NAND Flash memory. In this paper, we experimentally analyze the efficiency for the execution of garbage collection in the MiNV file system. Also, we quantify the file system performance gains obtained from efficient garbage collection. Experimental results show that garbage collection on the MiNV file system executes more efficiently that on YAFFS even though these file systems adopt exactly the same garbage collection policy. Specifically, the MiNV file system invokes the aggressive garbage collection mechanism less frequently than YAFFS. Additionally, the MiNV file system postpones the first execution of the aggressive garbage collection mechanism in our experiments. From the experiments, we verify that the efficiency of garbage collection leads to performance improvements of the MiNV file system.

• Journal of KIISE:Computing Practices and Letters
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.98-113
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• 2009

Conventional file systems for harddisk drive cannot be applied to NAND flash memory, because the physical characteristics of NAND flash memory differs from those of harddisk drive. To address this problem, various file systems with better reliability and efficiency have also been developed recently. However, those file systems have inherent overheads for updating the file's metadata pages, because those file systems save file's meta-data and data separately. Furthermore, those file systems have a critical reliability problem: file systems fail when either a page in meta-data of a file system or a file itself fails. In this paper, we propose a self-description page technique and In Memory Core File System technique to address these efficiency and reliability problems, and develop SDFS(Self-Description File System) newly. SDFS can be safely recovered, although some pages fail, and improves write and read performance by 36% and 15%, respectively, and reduces mounting time by 1/20 compared with YAFFS2.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.2 no.3 s.4
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• pp.147-152
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• 2006

NAND flash memory-based embedded systems are becoming increasingly common. These embedded systems have to provide a fast boot time. In this paper, we have designed and proposed a flash file system for embedded systems that require fast booting. By using a Flash Image Area, which keeps the latest flash memory information such as types and status of all blocks, the file system mounting time can be reduced significantly. We have shown by experiments that our file system outperforms YAFFS and RFFS.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.777-778
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• 2006

In this thesis, we design and implement a Flash Cache Core Module (FCCM) which operates on the YAFFS NAND flash memory. The FCCM applies memory replacement policy and prefetching policy based on the page reference pattern of applications. Also, implement the Clean-First memory replacement technique considering the characteristics of flash memory. In this method the decision is made according to page hit to apply prefetched waiting area. The FCCM decrease I/O hit frequency up to 37%, Compared with the linux cache and prefetching policy. Also, it operated using less memory for prefetching(maximum 24% and average 16%) compared with the linux kernel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2007.10b
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• pp.280-284
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• 2007

현재 임베디드 환경이 대두되면서 저장 매체로 플래쉬 메모리가 하드디스크를 대체하여 각광을 받고 있다. 이는 휴대폰과 같은 임베디드 환경의 이동성과 관련하여 플래쉬 메모리의 여러 물리적인 특징이 하드디스크보다 이런 환경에 적합하기 때문이다. 본 논문에서는 이런 부분은 배제하고 성능 측면만을 고려하여 하드디스크와 플래쉬 메모리를 비교해 보았다. 측정을 위해 2개의 보드를 사용하였다. 보드 1에서는 FAT 파일시스템 하드디스크와 FAT 플래쉬 메모리로 저장 매체에 따른 성능 측정을 위해 환경을 구축하였다. 보드 2는 FAT 플래쉬 메모리와 YAFFS 플래쉬 메모리로 플래쉬 메모리가 기존 파일시스템과 전용 파일시스템에 따라 얼마만큼의 성능 차이를 내는지 알아보기 위해 환경을 구축하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korea Information Processing Society Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.647-650
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• 2009

IPTV(Internet Protocol Television)는 차별화된 초고속 광대역 네트워크를 기반으로 기존 TV의 단점을 보완하여 차세대 DTV 시장을 주도할 것으로 예상된다. IPTV의 저장용량이 증가하는 추세에 따라 SSD(Solid State Disk)가 NAND 플래시 메모리를 대체 할 것으로 예상된다. 본 논문에서는 IPTV의 저장장치인 SSD의 수명을 증가시키고 플래시메모리의 특성인 마모도 제한을 고려하지 않은 지움 정책(Garbage-Collection)을 사용하는 YAFFS(Yet Another Flash FileSystem)의 문제점을 해결하기 위해 블록을 내용기반 리스트로 관리하고 블록스왑을 사용하는 내용기반 지움 정책을 제안한다. 기존 파일시스템 보다 수명을 향상 시키는 내용기반 파일시스템을 설계 및 구현하여 성능을 분석하였다.