Ring Buffer

Introduction

This document describes the ring buffer component of EasyEmbeddedFramework. It explains the structure, behavior, and data types used in the ring buffer implementation. The ring buffer provides a fixed-size, circular FIFO data structure for efficient data storage and retrieval in embedded systems.

The ring buffer component allows users to:

  • Initialize a ring buffer with a user-provided memory buffer

  • Push and pop data in FIFO order

  • Check if the buffer is full or empty

  • Reset the buffer and query available memory

Limitations:

  • Not thread-safe by default

  • Buffer size is fixed at initialization

  • Not suitable for dynamic memory allocation or resizing

Use cases:

  • UART/serial communication buffering

  • Audio or sensor data streaming

  • Producer-consumer scenarios in embedded applications

Component’s structure

The ring buffer component is composed of the following elements: - RingBuffer: Main structure holding buffer pointer, capacity, head/tail indices, and byte counters - User-provided data buffer (uint8_t array)

Mermaid diagram:

        classDiagram
  class RingBuffer {
    uint8_t* buff
    uint16_t capacity
    uint16_t head_index
    uint16_t tail_index
    uint16_t written_byte_count
  }
  RingBuffer o-- "1" uint8_t : buff

Component’s behavior

External behavior:

  • Users can initialize, push to, pop from, reset, and query the ring buffer.

  • Data is written to the buffer in FIFO order; when full, no more data can be pushed until space is freed.

  • When empty, no data can be popped.

Internal behavior:

  • The buffer uses head and tail indices to track where to write and read data.

  • Indices wrap around when reaching the end of the buffer (circular behavior).

  • The written byte count tracks the number of bytes currently stored.

  • Resetting the buffer clears indices and byte count, and optionally zeroes the buffer.

Component’s data type

The ring buffer component uses the following data types:

  • RingBuffer: Structure representing the ring buffer

  • uint8_t*: Pointer to the user-provided data buffer

  • uint16_t: For buffer size, indices, and counters

  • bool: For status returns

All data stored in the buffer is managed as bytes (uint8_t), allowing for flexible use with different data types.