CSR: Medium: A Virtual Smartphone and Tablet System Architecture

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Smartphones are increasingly ubiquitous. Many users are forced to carry multiple smartphones for work, personal, and geographic mobility needs. This research is developing Cells, a lightweight virtualization architecture for enabling multiple virtual smartphones to run simultaneously on the same physical device in a securely isolated manner. Cells introduces a new device namespace mechanism and novel device proxies that multiplex phone hardware devices efficiently and securely across multiple virtual phones while providing native hardware device performance to all applications. Virtual phone features include fully accelerated graphics for gaming, complete power management features, easy-to-use security and safety mechanisms that can control the availability of phone features transparently and dynamically, and full telephony functionality with separately assignable telephone numbers and caller ID support. Cells is implemented in Android, the most widely used smartphone platform, to transparently support multiple Android virtual phones on the same phone hardware. While the primary focus of this research is smartphone devices, the development of these ideas is also explored in the context of tablet devices. The results of this research provide a foundation for future innovations in smartphone computing, enabling new uses and applications and transforming the way the devices can be used. This research promises to improve not just system security, but also user safety; especially for young people. Integrating this research with the CS curriculum provides students with hands-on learning through programming projects on smartphone devices, enabling them to become contributors to the workforce as smartphones become an increasingly dominant computing platform.