computer science

Mobile virtualization

Mobile virtualization is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mobile virtualization rather than just read about it. In short: Mobile virtualization is hardware virtualization on a mobile phone or connected wireless device. It enables multiple operating systems or virtual machines to run simultaneously on a mobile phone or connected wireless device.

Key takeaways

Mobile virtualization belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mobile virtualization to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mobile virtualization from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mobile virtualization is hardware virtualization on a mobile phone or connected wireless device. It enables multiple operating systems or virtual machines to run simultaneously on a mobile phone or connected wireless device. It uses a hypervisor to create secure separation between the underlying hardware and the software that runs on top of it; this can be considered a form of an embedded hypervisor, or a close analogue. Virtualization technology has been used widely for many years in other fields such as data servers (storage virtualization) and personal computers (desktop virtualization).

Applications

Low cost platform In 2008, the mobile industry became interested in using the benefits of virtualization technology for cell phones and other devices like tablets, netbooks and machine-to-machine (M2M) modules. With mobile virtualization, mobile devices can be manufactured more cheaply through the re-use of software and hardware, which shortens development time. One such example is using mobile virtualization to create low-cost Android smartphones without a separate baseband processor by running the applications and the baseband processor code in separate virtual machines on a single processor. Semiconductor vendors such as ST-Ericsson have adopted mobile virtualization as part of their low-cost Android platform strategy.

Enterprise Another use case for mobile virtualization is in the enterprise market. Today, many consumers carry two mobile phones: one for business use and another for personal use. With mobile virtualization, mobile phones can support multiple domains/operating systems on the same hardware, so that the enterprise IT department can securely manage one domain (in a virtual machine), and the mobile operator can separately manage the other domain (in a virtual machine). In September 2010, ARM announced that it would support a virtualization extension in its ARM Cortex-A15 processor.

Platforms Every mobile platform does virtualization differently.

Android

In Android there are many ways to do virtualization, however due to limitations and operating system security restrictions some types of virtualization software will not be able to do all the tasks or run all types of applications.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mobile virtualization

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mobile virtualization claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mobile virtualization before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mobile virtualization ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mobile virtualization

In research: Mobile virtualization appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mobile virtualization in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mobile virtualization is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Mobile software, Virtualization, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mobile virtualization outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mobile virtualization in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mobile virtualization means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mobile virtualization out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mobile virtualization in simple terms?

Why does Mobile virtualization matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mobile virtualization?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mobile virtualization.