Analysis of space allocation in a generally fragmented linear store (Q1085973)

The space allocation process in a fragmented linear store with general fragmentation characteristics is analysed. For a given allocation requirement t, exact expression for the n-th moment of the allocation penalty for single block contiguous allocation is obtained, which for large t is shown to be \(O(\bar F(t)^{-n})\), where \(\bar F(\cdot)\) is the complementary distribution function of the free block sizes. For multiple block non-contiguous allocation, it is shown that the corresponding penalty can be approximated by an n-th degree polynomial and is \(O(t^ n)\) for large t. Compared with experimental values, the model results are able to achieve good agreement.