Inside the Android OS: Building, Customizing, Managing and Operating Android System Services

G. Blake Meike responds to the real-world needs of embedded and IoT developers moving to Android, providing indispensable information without becoming obscure or too specialised. Meike teaches through a book-length project that covers everything developers need to know to create their own custom Android service. You will find approachable yet precise coverage of:

• Why Android is becoming a pervasive embedded platform
• Using the Android four-tier architectural model in embedded devices
• Setting up a build platform, downloading the AOSP source, and building an Android image
• Walking through system startup on a running Android system
• Running native services on embedded systems
• Using the Android Native Development Kit (NDK) and HAL to link interpreted Java with native C/C++ code
• Taking a deep dive into the seminal Zygote application and its Dalvik interpreter
• Quickly building Java system services
• Working with Binder, the heart and the root of the Android security and access control models
• Establishing permissions and access control
• Enabling apps to use the services you have created

The Complete Guide to Customizing Android for New IoT and Embedded Devices

Inside the Android OS is a comprehensive guide and reference for technical professionals who want to customize and integrate Android into embedded devices, and construct or maintain successful Android-based products. Replete with code examples, it encourages you to create your own working code as you read---whether for personal insight or a professional project in the fast-growing marketplace for smart IoT devices.

Expert Android developers G. Blake Meike and Larry Schiefer respond to the real-world needs of embedded and IoT developers moving to Android. After presenting an accessible introduction to the Android environment, they guide you through boot, subsystem startup, hardware interfaces, and application support---offering essential knowledge without ever becoming obscure or overly specialized.

Reflecting Android''s continuing evolution, Meike and Schiefer help you take advantage of relevant innovations, from the ART application runtime environment to Project Treble. Throughout, a book-length project covers all you need to start implementing your own custom Android devices, one step at a time.

You will:

• Assess advantages and tradeoffs using Android in smart IoT devices
• Master practical processes for customizing Android
• Set up a build platform, download the AOSP source, and build an Android image
• Explore Android''s components, architecture, source code, and development tools
• Understand essential kernel modules that are unique to Android
• Use Android''s extensive security infrastructure to protect devices and users
• Walk through Android boot, from power-on through system initialization
• Explore subsystem startup, and use Zygote containers to control application processes
• Interface with hardware through Android''s Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
• Provide access to Java programs via Java Native Interface (JNI)
• Gain new flexibility by using binderized HAL (Project Treble)
• Implement native C/C++ or Java client apps without bundling vendor libraries