SlimFS: A Thin and Unobtrusive File System for Embedded Systems and Consumer Products

It is common place for embedded systems and consumer products to contain flash memory for nonvolatile storage. While there are many applications that require the data stored in the flash memory to be in a given structure enabling the data to be externally accessed, there are also many embedded consumer applications where the content of the flash memory is only accessed locally. In this case, the local application can benefit from having a minimized bespoke file system optimized for the application, resulting in lower power and faster access speed than using public file systems. This paper analyzes the overhead in using the commonly used file allocation table file system, and proposes a significantly faster, smaller footprint, and hence lower power file system, termed SlimFS. The work has clear applications to low power embedded consumer applications, specifically battery driven wearable devices for healthcare and “green” electronic systems.