Embedded Android

Android is becoming a popular choice as an embedded operating system, largely because of its great UI and familiar programming interface. Support for Android is available from a wide range of chip, board and module vendors. This course will show you the internal workings of Android, guide you through selecting suitable hardware platforms and teach you how to customize the platform for your own needs.

What will be covered?

You will learn how to build Android from source and reflash the system images using fastboot. You will find out how to lock-down the UI to create a single-purpose “kiosk mode” application, and how to access external hardware from Android apps, using JNI. You will learn about the Android security framework and how to reduce the chances of the device becoming compromised. There are modules on how SurfaceFlinger renders graphics for various displays, and on the all-important topic of debugging and profiling the final system.

Roughly half of the course is taken by hands-on lab sessions during which you will apply the theory to create an embedded Android device, based on the popular and readily available BeagleBone Black.

Course Outline

Introduction to Android

Android architecture: the big picture
Getting the source code: the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)
Building Android from source
Criteria for selecting hardware

Applications

Application sandboxing
Dalvik and ART
How to write a single-use kiosk-mode application

The Kernel

Linux kernel architecture
Android-specific changes to Linux
Building Linux from source
Understanding device trees

Debugging and profiling

Debugging native code
Profiling CPU usage using perf
Profiling memory usage
Profiling power usage

Booting Android

Learning how the bootloader starts Android
Flashing images using fastboot
Customizing init boot scripts
Controlling system behaviour using system properties
Reducing boot time

Security

User and group IDs
Android permissions, and how to add your own
How SELinux adds an extra layer of protection
Security threats and “rooting”

The Android Framework

Understanding Android services
The role of binder and AIDL in defining interfaces to services
Defining your own service
Calling native code using JNI
The Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)

Interfacing with hardware

Some different approaches to reaching hardware from apps
USB host and accessories
Basic interfacing using GPIO
Interfacing with serial ports
Interfacing using i2c and SPI peripherals

Graphics

How SurfaceFlinger orchestrates image rendering
Internal and external displays
Streaming multi-media

Integrating non-Android code

Problems with integrating non-Android code
Using a chroot jail
Using Unix sockets to link into the framework and apps

Who should attend?

This course is ideal for system architects, engineers and project leaders who want to know how Android works, and how to customize and extend the platform.

Prerequisites

Good knowledge of C/C++ and Java
Familiarity with Linux development and commandline tools

Laptop specifications

Students are required to provide their own laptop to the following specifications:

Part of the course is to compile Android from source, which means that we need fairly powerful machines. The minimum specification is:

Quad core Intel i5 or better
At least 16 GiB RAM
3 free USB ports: BeagleBone USB, BeagleBone serial port; USB hard drive. The latter should be USB 3.0

BIOS configuration

It must be possible to boot the student's laptop from an external USB drive. In other words, it must be possible to enter the BIOS set-up and change the boot order. Some machines have a password protected BIOS and will require special permission to make changes. Please make sure that you have the information necessary to achieve this.

When, where and how much?

Dates:
6th - 9th March 2018
11th - 14th September 2018

Each course runs for 4 days, subject to a class minimum size of 3 attendees. Should these numbers not be met, then students will be offered the next available alternative date.

Costs:
The workshop costs £2100pp for the 4 days including lunch and all refreshments.

All students will also receive a printed copy of the presentations and lab notes, worked solutions to the problems and plus electronic copies of the course materials.

Travel:
Travel information and directions download.

Venue:
Unless otherwise stated, the course is held at our UK offices:

Hitex UK Office
Millburn Hill Road
University of Warwick Science Park
Coventry
CV4 7HS