OK:Android by Open Kernel Labs (acquired by General Dynamics)

Product Description

The Android mobile device platform from Google and the
Open Handset Alliance have fired the imagination of mobile
OEMs, developers and end users. Since its introduction, the
Android mobile device platform has enjoyed a rapidly growing
market presence and bullish prospects for new deployments.

Underlying standard software components and an active
developer community have not necessarily made it easier for
OEMs to bring Android devices to market. Silicon vendors
and smartphone manufacturers must still cope with basic
board support issues, from accommodating ARM-based
chipsets to building device drivers, as well as refactoring and
tuning legacy embedded and desktop code to run well on the
platform.

OK:Android

In OK:Android, OK Labs supplies an OS support package for
Android, enabled for use as a guest OS of the OKL4 mobile
virtualization platform. OK:Android simplifies and streamlines
the process of creating new Android phones.

OK:Android provides a standard Android environment, where
existing Android applications can run without modification,
and new applications can be developed using standard
Android development tools.

Using OK:Android to create a virtual machine (VM) with an
Android guest OS adds to the benefits associated with the
use of Android in the following ways:
-Android applications can run on the same processor side by
side with legacy applications and legacy OSes. This co-
location eliminates the need for either multiprocessor
hardware or porting the legacy system to Android.
-OKL4 native cells can complement the Android VM by
providing an execution environment with better real-time
properties and stronger security.
-OKL4 native cells are well-suited to hosting real-time OSes,
easing implementation of latency-sensitive functions without
sacrificing the rich ecosystem support available for Android.

Challenges to deploying Android

Android is large - Android is tens of millions of lines of source
code. OKL4 cells make it easier to meet the security and
certification requirements of key applications or subsystems
by offering applications a much smaller trusted computing
base than is possible for an Android environment.

Android is open -The complexity and openness of the
Android mobile device platform can increase the risk of
security exploits and reliability problems. Using the OKL4
microvisor, Android and its applications can run in isolation
from other software subsystems, making it easier to offer
higher levels of security and reliability to those subsystems
without having to provide a dedicated hardware execution
environment.

OK:Android

Market Segment(s)

• Embedded

Target Platform(s)

• Android

ARM Processor(s)

• Cortex-A53
• Cortex-A57
• ARMv8