Proceedings of the 12th
INDIACom; INDIACom-2018; IEEE Conference ID: 42835
2018 5th
International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 14th
- 16th
March, 2018
Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management (BVICAM), New Delhi (INDIA)
Optimization of Storage Management in Android
Shrikant Patel
Dept. of Computer Science, BPIBS
Delhi, INDIA
Email: patelshrikant@rediffmail.com
Vivek Raj
BPIBS
Delhi, INDIA
Email: vivekrajagarwal@yahoo.in
Meghna Harit
BPIBS
Delhi, INDIA
Email: meghnaharit@gmail.com
Abstract—Android is a widely awaited open source operating
system that includes an application middleware layer, a base
operating system, collection of system applications and a java
software development kit. Android is more compatible with Java,
it comes under the middle layer of operating system. Android
provides the necessary APIs and tools for developing the
applications. For executing all the application android uses Dalvik
Virtual Machine. There are lots of features of android system like
Intent Management, Resource Permission Management, and
Multi-Tasking etc. This paper includes the research on the
Single/Inter app Shareable Storage for Common Developer Apps
(S3CA).S3CA nearly means to collect the data among apps and to
remove the redundancy of data for common apps. This paper will
conclude the usage as well as the benefits of S3CA along with the
proof of reduced resources and better performance of android
systems.
Keywords— Android, architecture, tools and APIs, shareable
storage, data management
I. INTRODUCTION
Android is a widely awaited open source operating system
that includes an application middleware layer, a base operating
system, collection of system applications and a java software
development kit [1]. Android takes operating system
characteristics like multitasking, UID (UNIX use Identifiers),
file permissions and efficient shared memory.
Android based products are fastest growing solutions on the
smart phones and tablets. Android does not support
applications which are developed for other platforms.
II. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
Android is described as operating system for mobile
devices. Google purchased android in 2005. It is based upon
advanced Linux Kernel. Google and all members of Open
Handset Alliance collaborated on Android. There were many
drivers and libraries which have been either newly developed
or varied to allow android to run smoothly and effectively on
different devices.
III. ANDROID ARCHITECTURE
In the android architecture, the Linux kernel provides
process management, memory management, device drivers and
networking facilities [1]. It splits into four layers i.e.
application layer, the application framework, the libraries and
runtime, the kernel.
Fig. 1. Architecture of Android system
This architecture works on bottom to top approach. The top
most and final layer is Application layer. This layer includes
apps, browser, contacts, and home applications. Applications
like SMS, calendar, Google maps, camera works with the help
of application framework. In the application framework layer,
the application life cycle is regulated by the activity manager.
All applications use the same APIs and framework.
Notification manager enable apps to notify the alerts in status
bar. Similarly, the resource manager allots you to access the
non-code resource like graphics. Window Manager helps to
design layouts and views. Android has some libraries; these
libraries can be accessed only with the help of application
framework. Libraries cannot be accessed directly. There are
many technologies like Web kit, SGL, SSL etc.
Copy Right © INDIACom-2018; ISSN 0973-7529; ISBN 978-93-80544-28-1 5032

Proceedings of the 12th
INDIACom; INDIACom-2018; IEEE Conference ID: 42835
2018 5th
International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 14th
- 16th
March, 2018
The next is Android Runtime which contains DVM (Dalvik
Virtual Machine) and key libraries. Android runtime was made
for that part where there is limited CPU, limited battery and
limited memory. DVM is the part of android runtime.
Basically Dalvik is software which helps to run the
applications on the android devices. It converts the java
classes’ files into byte code.
The first layer is “Linux kernel layer” and it is bottom most
layer in the architecture. The whole architecture is based on
Linux kernel. It provides services like security, audio drivers,
power management, memory management etc. It is the
medium through which software and hardware bindings can do
better communication.
IV. STORAGE AND MEMORY
The major problem comes with android is lack of storage
space. These devices come with internal storage and also have
SD Card port which is known as external storage. Android
device has two type of storage. RAM is the first storage space
which is used by the apps when they are running. And second
type is hard storage. Internal storage is used for the space
available to apps and data and also used to cover the whole
physical internal storage.
Hard Storage includes SD Card .It refers to the space which
is available for user data.
When we talk about to set up and configure mobile devices,
traditionally hard drive’s size are very giant, so that they are
vulnerable and consumes huge amount of power.
V. POWER MANAGEMENT
Power management in mobile devices is obviously having a
superior power. It doesn’t mean that on any other devices, the
power management should be neglected. So, it is a necessity
for any operating system due to rapidly growth of power
demand in computer system. For example, to decrease and
manage “power consumption”, systems based on Linux
accommodate power saving features like disarm memory
cache, activating sleep mode, voltage scaling etc. Each and
every characteristic decreases the system’s power
consumption.
All Android based systems yield their own power manager
that was designed based on the condition that if no services or
applications actually require power then a processor should not
consume any power. Android use service and follow up
resources using wake locks. If no wake locks found android
automatically shut down the processor.
VI. SERVICES IN ANDROID
Services are long running background processes which are
used to allow background tasks like calculator, running of a
game. Services can be started with Intent and additionally
conveyed with over a Binder interface by calling Context’s
bind Service () method. Binder interfaces checks their
agreement on their caller, allowing them to apply more than
one permission at a time or it can allow different permissions
on different requests also. Services provide many ways to
confirm that the caller is trusted.
Normal Management
S3CA Management
Fig. 2 : Normal & S3CA Scenario
VII.SINGLE SHAREABLE STORAGE FOR COMMON DEVELOPER
APP (S3CA)
As we know that every apps stores their data which
consumes more space. Mostly apps contain the same data
which creates the duplicity. Hence to remove this redundancy
we came with S3CA.S3CA means to collect the data among
apps and to remove the redundancy of data for common apps.
This can be done by the developers. In the backend, they
declare their apps to be friends and give permission to each
other for accessing the data. The benefit of this is that it
reduces the usage of phone memory up to 50-75% and also
reduces the size of app after expansion. This gives new way of
saving and minimizing the resources. This paper describes the
working and implementation to achieve S3CA.
A. Saving Data
Lots of Android applications need to save data. Maximum
insignificant apps also require to save user settings, and some
App 1
Memory 1
App 2
Memory 2
App 3
Memory 3
Developer 1
App 1 App 2 App 3
Developer 1
Memory 1
Copy Right © INDIACom-2018; ISSN 0973-7529; ISBN 978-93-80544-28-1 5033

Optimization of Data Storage Management in Android
apps must maintain maximum amounts of information in files
and databases. Principal data storage options in Android
introduce by this class.
B. Connecting With Other Apps
An Android app has lots of activities. Each and every
activity exhibits a user interface that allows the user to execute
a specific task. To move the user from one task to other, your
app must apply Intent to define your app's "intent" to do
something. Intent activates the services, applications and
broadcast receivers [3].
C. Sending the user to another app (intent management)
Android's most significant features is an app's capability to
send the user to another app based on an "action" it would like
to react basically known as Intent management. For example,
one can open messenger application through facebook
application whenever intended. This shows one app can invoke
the other app and can share the same resources (database) for
communicating.
Android uses intent in different-different ways. Intents have
many execution details but the core idea is that they represent a
group of serialized data that can be moved between programs
to get something done. Intent generally have an action (kind of
string) that identifies some specific goals and some data in
form of an Uri. Intents can also have some additional attributes
like a component, an explicit type, a list of categories and
Extras (a set of name value pairs).
VIII.ADVANTAGES
1) After implementing S3CA, the main benefit is the
reduction in the usage of phone memory up to 50-75%
so that the other resources can use the memory.
2) Another benefit is that it also reduces the size of app
after expansion; this gives the new way of saving and
minimizing the resources.
IX. DISADVANTAGES
A. Battery eater
In the android operating system, there are maximum
numbers of processes running in the background, gives
outcomes in the rapid draining of the battery. As we know that
the greater part of them is system applications hence it is hard
to stop these applications. Android Handset is one of the most
batteries preoccupy operating system.
B. Malware/Bug/Safety
Android device is not contemplating safe as compared to all
other applications. To go for any Android phone is easy and
unproblematic and millions of attempts is completed every day
on Android phone. A hacker keeps on trying to snatch your
personal information [2].
X. CONCLUSION
Android applications have their own identity compelled by
the system. Describing the components that are made of
basically on android environment, in this paper basic focused
over providing the single shareable storage for common apps
aimed at improving the efficiency of android. We conclude
today’s massive evolution of android is based on the Linux
community over the year.
REFERENCES
[1] Dominique A. Heger, DHT technologies, Mobile Devices - An
Introduction to the Android Operating Environment Design,
Architecture, and Performance Implications.
[2] Ahmad Talha Siddiqui, Abu Sarwar Zamani and Jawed Ahmed, Android
Security Model that Provide a Base Operating System(JOURNAL OF
TELECOMMINUCATION, VOLUME 13, ISSUE 1, MARCH 2012).
[3] A MOBILE OFFICE AND ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM BASED ON
ANDROID Felix Burkhardt, Martin Eckert, Julia Niemann, Frank
Oberle, Thomas Scheerbarth, Stefan Seide und Jianshen Zhou, DTAG
Laboratories.
Copy Right © INDIACom-2018; ISSN 0973-7529; ISBN 978-93-80544-28-1 5034