A method and system for performing sensed garbage collection in a memory is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes measuring arrival times of read/write commands received from a processor executing an application; transforming the arrival times from a time domain to frequency domain data; locking onto a phase of the read/write commands; determining predicted arrival times of future read/write commands; creating a real-time schedule of memory requests using the arrival times of the read/write commands and the predicted arrival times of the future read/write commands; using the real-time schedule to sense idle periods where the application will not make a request of the memory; and performing garbage collection in the memory during at least one of the idle periods.