The Design of an Operating System Performance Evaluation and Analysis - Term Paper Example

The Design of an Operating System Performance Evaluation and Analysis In modern times, the mobile phones are more than mere wireless means of transmitting signals. They have entire set of computational elements and functions in them. Based on these features, the mobile phones are called as the smart phones. These smart phones have complete set of computers and operating systems within. This paper looks into one similar technology which is mobile phone operating system. The operating system so chosen is that of Android. The paper will give an account of the design considerations, the specifications, the features, evaluation of the design and other associated factors. Brief background of Android O.S: Android Operating systems are open source operating systems, which means any programmer can come up with a code and patch and add further feature to it. Its starting days can be stretched to 2003, while seeing the growth and promise shown by this platform and technology, Google Inc. formally purchased it towards 2005 (Helal, Li, & Bose, 2012, p. 21). Since then, this operating system has been the front runner and made it to nearly every second mobile phone that is available in the market. The distinction so achieved is based on number of factors. The following are few of the factors based on which Android is easily the market runner. Bionic Library: The bionic library has been developed as an alternative against Linux based library used by other mobile phone operating systems. However one area of possible potential drawback and restriction in this regard is the possible limitation of bionic library to O.H.A and Google Inc. enabled Android operating system (Cinar, 2012, p. 156). Significance of the topic: The significance of the topic is derived based on the fact that Android was little known ten years ago. Yet in merely a time period of one decade, it has outsmarted and superseded its rivals. Rivals such as Nokia’s Symbian Operating system, Apple Inc’s I.O.S, and other Linux based operating systems are made to sweat for their standing. All this has been made possible through the design considerations, through the user friendliness, through the compatible nature, and through the commercial viability factor being taken into account. The group of engineers and teams appointed for the design and development take special consideration of the factors that makes this brand the top seller and sought after in the mobile phone industry. Fundamental elements of analysis: The analysis of the Android operating system is based on the consideration of the variables such as the performance, the user friendly aspect, the open source interface, compatibility with the hardware and future growth in terms of the innovations and new versions that are being produced. Security Aspects in Android: Android has established support for security mechanism of users. It provides GID (Group IDs) and Unique User IDs. This along with the penetration testing and Code review which is performed during the assessment and development phase. Established security architecture: Based on the security considerations, established architecture includes the following functions. Providing means for protecting the data Protecting the application programs Incorporating effective Linux based kernel that provides support for secure operations. The following is the software stack review of the Android operating system which shows the multi layer structure working in different phases and making it possible for the users to operate in a secure and user friendly environment. Sources: (Misra & Dubey, 2013) Dalvick Virtual Machine: Google Inc has constantly been in chase of providing an alternative to the J.V.M interface, its reliance n the web based support is also such a move based on this idea. Dalvick Virtual Machine comes in contrast to the conventional Java Virtual Machine. The objective behind using a separate virtual machine is to allow multiple write functions. Dalvick Virtual machine is specially designated for the purpose of making the smart phones interfaces more flexible and supportive of various environments. Other features provided by Dalvick V.M include converting the Java enabled files conversion to Davick Virtual Machine (Ehringer, D. 2010). Design considerations: The set of principles and policies set forth by the company with regard to the manufacturing and designing of the operating system encompass factors such as making things easier, flexible and allowing the users with multiple more options than they may find in the other operating systems. The design considerations take into account factors such as the middleware production and applications generation that are compatible with the Android operating system and are ready to download through Google Play. Android Kernel: Android is largely built around the Linux kernel, but owing to the usage and portability factor over the mobile phone devices, slight modifications are brought about in the Linux kernel with regard to its implementation of the smart phones platform. Based on this novelty, Android has specific set of applications and commands in Linux that are limited to the smart phones only. These include Binder, Ashmem (also known as shared memory driver), Pmem, Wakelocks, OOm Handlings and Loggers to name a few. These are specifically designated for Android smart phones usage. The Android Kernel allows making the changes relatively easily as compared to the other operating systems. Chipset features: Like most of the major contemporary operating systems available in the modern times, Android is ARM technology enabled which makes it much more flexible with regard to its support for other hardwares and accomplishing technologies. Apart from the chipset features and requirements, there are other set of variables that must be fulfilled in order to make the device and hardware compatible with the Android operating system. These variables include functions such as memory limit, display options with minimum level of specified resolutions and storage that is required to match the needs of Android operating systems. Dynamic nature of Apps: Android operating system comes with large variety of applications. These range from sports to health care to diet to schedulers to various other similar applications. The unique nature of applications speak of the novel bench group present in the Android operating system developers and the open source applications. Android in a span of nearly one decade has made up to over four hundred thousand applications being available to the ordinary users with large percentage of them being free of cost and easily available for download. Multitasking support: Android also has an edge based on the fact that it supports the multi tasking features. This is made possible by the Linux Kernel. The virtual Terminal makes multi tasking easy to accomplish. Dynamic nature of the operating systems: The level of dynamic outlook of Android operating system can be evaluated from the fact that it has as many as generation 4th version of operating systems released so far. its clientele is not just limited to mobile phones, rather tablets, handheld devices, navigation systems, and other modern equipment are installed with Android operating system. Material design policy: Google Inc. has adopted the policy for following the pattern that is in line with the demands of the customers. As a result the material design policy is based on making the overall experience worthwhile. From customers view point this is based on the phenomenon of adding colors, making the screens user friendly and providing the applications ready to download. Secret to success: While Java powered programs have dominated the field of digital domain, the Google Inc. has taken a step forward and initiated moves and actions that will allow the customers to experience devices operating in the web based environments. The advantages served by the web based application creation include lively experience and more lively appearance of the apps on the interface. Sources: (JSSEC, 2014) Design considerations: In order to ensure versatility, Android operating system provides support for number of screen sizes with the same aided features of color, display and resolutions. The set of screen sizes come in the range of 2-3 to 10 inches screens. Similarly it provides an array of resolution options ranging from 100 d.p.i to 320 d.p.i. Source: (MutualMobile, 2011). Resource based analysis: The design domain of Android operating system is supported by the Google Inc.’s own policy of analysis and critical assessment of the resources. This analysis takes into account the performance, competition, delivery rate and the overall standing of the operating system and the associated applications that are produced in millions (Chao, Saha, & Fan, 2011). Future direction: The future direction of the topic and analysis allow for understanding the current standing of Android operating system and its possible gains and innovative ideas introduction in the future. Making the operating system further compatible and allowing user friendly operations customization is the future prospect of this technology and operating system in particular. Non-standard Java Technologies: Aiming to move away from Java, and remove Java dependency, Android has also introduced Google Web Tool Kit which is proprietary to the Google powered operating system in the form of Android. Major versions: One of the main versions with massive developments came about in the form of Android 1.1 which provided Multimedia functions support. It was soon followed by version 1.5,1.6, to version 3.0 providing support for video chat to HTML, to WVGA resolutions to 3D desktop support and now the current version is that of Version 4.4 KitKat that is much more equipped. Navigation based support: The Android operating system, owing to its open source nature is crafted in such a way that allows for peers to communicate and collaborate towards finding new solutions and further enhancing the features and functions provided by Android operating system. Dynamic outlook: In order to further expand its horizons and allow maximum development in the terms of future productivity, Android Operating system is part of the Open Hand Held Alliance where over eighty brands from different segments of electronic industry join together and work towards the development on the open source platform. The O.H.A is largely supported and pioneered by Google Inc. which itself is the owner to the Android operating systems (Sethi, 2013, p. 110). Marketing perspective: On marketing front, the Android operating system sales are reflective of its overall success. With market trends showing it among the top sellers and top most sought after by the employees. Flexible policies, easy manuals and friendly user mode design are few of the general traits that define Android operating system architecture. Given the open source versus other operating systems that have been strictly restricted to only manufacturers reach to making changes, Android has given tough time to the earlier existent operating systems namely Nokia’s Symbian operating system and Black Berry’s operating system. With further improvements bound to come and Android looking for bringing about further innovation and collaborating under the Open Handheld Alliance, it will gain more market and more customers reach through its innovative and customers oriented policies. References: Cinar, O. (2012). Pro Android C++ with the NDK. Apress. Chao, C.-C., Saha, A., & Fan, Z. (2011). Analysis of Google’s Strategy on Android. Google Ehringer, D. (2010). T H E DA LV I K V I RT UA L M AC H I N E A R C H I T E C T U R E. Private Helal, A. A., Li, W., & Bose, R. (2012). Mobile Platforms and Development Environments. Morgan & Claypool Publishers. Misra, A., & Dubey, A. (2013). Android Security: Attacks and Defenses. CRC Press Mobile, M. (2011). android design guidelines. Google.Inc Sethi, A. K. (2013). The Business of Electronics: A Concise History. Palgrave Macmillan Read More