Android Stack Integration in Embedded Systems

Smartphone usage has increased manifold upon introduction of Google’s Android. Since its introduction, Android has evolved at an outstanding pace in terms of application development, commercialization and market share of Android powered devices. Although originally developed for smartphones, now the embedded system industry has realized the capabilities of Android. Due to open source nature, rich user interface, wide range of connectivity, secure communication, data encryption and multitasking, Android is being integrated and ported to various embedded systems. These include set-top boxes, IPTV, Google TV, In-Vehicle Infotainment systems. One major advantage of such integration is that an Android app can address the functionalities all these devices powered by Android and developers need not to write several applications for different embedded systems. These systems will also benefit from Android power management capabilities. This paper makes an attempt to promote Android software stack as a suitable operating system for embedded systems. The Linux kernel modifications introduced in Android are described in details. The procedure to integrate Android stack in an embedded system are outlined and Android porting is also briefed. The power management benefits are also pointed out. Finally the paper concludes with several important advantages of such embedded system with android stack. Keywordsembedded system; Android stack integration; Android power management; Linux kernel;