Virtualizing Graphics Architecture of Android Mobile Platforms in KVM/ARM Environment

Sejin PARK; Byungsu PARK; Unsung LEE; Chanik PARK

doi:10.1587/transinf.2016EDP7435

Virtualizing Graphics Architecture of Android Mobile Platforms in KVM/ARM Environment

Sejin PARK, Byungsu PARK, Unsung LEE, Chanik PARK

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With the availability of virtualization extension in mobile processors, e.g. ARM Cortex A-15, multiple virtual execution domains are efficiently supported in a mobile platform. Each execution domain requires high-performance graphics services for full-featured user interfaces such as smooth scrolling, background image blurring, and 3D images. However, graphics service is hard to be virtualized because multiple service components (e.g. ION and Fence) are involved. Moreover, the complexity of Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) device driver also makes harder virtualizing graphics service. In this paper, we propose a technique to virtualize the graphics architecture of Android mobile platform in KVM/ARM environment. The Android graphics architecture relies on underlying Linux kernel services such as the frame buffer memory allocator ION, the buffer synchronization service Fence, GPU device driver, and the display synchronization service VSync. These kernel services are provided as device files in Linux kernel. Our approach is to para-virtualize these device files based on a split device driver model. A major challenge is to translate guest-view of information into host-view of information, e.g. memory address translation, file descriptor management, and GPU Memory Management Unit (MMU) manipulation. The experimental results show that the proposed graphics virtualization technique achieved almost 84%-100% performance of native applications.

Publication: IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information Vol.E100-D No.7 pp.1403-1415

Publication Date: 2017/07/01

Publicized: 2017/04/18

Online ISSN: 1745-1361

DOI: 10.1587/transinf.2016EDP7435

Type of Manuscript: PAPER

Category: Software System

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Sejin PARK, Byungsu PARK, Unsung LEE, Chanik PARK, "Virtualizing Graphics Architecture of Android Mobile Platforms in KVM/ARM Environment" in IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information, vol. E100-D, no. 7, pp. 1403-1415, July 2017, doi: 10.1587/transinf.2016EDP7435.
Abstract: With the availability of virtualization extension in mobile processors, e.g. ARM Cortex A-15, multiple virtual execution domains are efficiently supported in a mobile platform. Each execution domain requires high-performance graphics services for full-featured user interfaces such as smooth scrolling, background image blurring, and 3D images. However, graphics service is hard to be virtualized because multiple service components (e.g. ION and Fence) are involved. Moreover, the complexity of Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) device driver also makes harder virtualizing graphics service. In this paper, we propose a technique to virtualize the graphics architecture of Android mobile platform in KVM/ARM environment. The Android graphics architecture relies on underlying Linux kernel services such as the frame buffer memory allocator ION, the buffer synchronization service Fence, GPU device driver, and the display synchronization service VSync. These kernel services are provided as device files in Linux kernel. Our approach is to para-virtualize these device files based on a split device driver model. A major challenge is to translate guest-view of information into host-view of information, e.g. memory address translation, file descriptor management, and GPU Memory Management Unit (MMU) manipulation. The experimental results show that the proposed graphics virtualization technique achieved almost 84%-100% performance of native applications.
URL: https://global.ieice.org/en_transactions/information/10.1587/transinf.2016EDP7435/_p

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@ARTICLE{e100-d_7_1403,
author={Sejin PARK, Byungsu PARK, Unsung LEE, Chanik PARK, },
journal={IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information},
title={Virtualizing Graphics Architecture of Android Mobile Platforms in KVM/ARM Environment},
year={2017},
volume={E100-D},
number={7},
pages={1403-1415},
abstract={With the availability of virtualization extension in mobile processors, e.g. ARM Cortex A-15, multiple virtual execution domains are efficiently supported in a mobile platform. Each execution domain requires high-performance graphics services for full-featured user interfaces such as smooth scrolling, background image blurring, and 3D images. However, graphics service is hard to be virtualized because multiple service components (e.g. ION and Fence) are involved. Moreover, the complexity of Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) device driver also makes harder virtualizing graphics service. In this paper, we propose a technique to virtualize the graphics architecture of Android mobile platform in KVM/ARM environment. The Android graphics architecture relies on underlying Linux kernel services such as the frame buffer memory allocator ION, the buffer synchronization service Fence, GPU device driver, and the display synchronization service VSync. These kernel services are provided as device files in Linux kernel. Our approach is to para-virtualize these device files based on a split device driver model. A major challenge is to translate guest-view of information into host-view of information, e.g. memory address translation, file descriptor management, and GPU Memory Management Unit (MMU) manipulation. The experimental results show that the proposed graphics virtualization technique achieved almost 84%-100% performance of native applications.},
keywords={},
doi={10.1587/transinf.2016EDP7435},
ISSN={1745-1361},
month={July},}

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TY - JOUR
TI - Virtualizing Graphics Architecture of Android Mobile Platforms in KVM/ARM Environment
T2 - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information
SP - 1403
EP - 1415
AU - Sejin PARK
AU - Byungsu PARK
AU - Unsung LEE
AU - Chanik PARK
PY - 2017
DO - 10.1587/transinf.2016EDP7435
JO - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information
SN - 1745-1361
VL - E100-D
IS - 7
JA - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Information
Y1 - July 2017
AB - With the availability of virtualization extension in mobile processors, e.g. ARM Cortex A-15, multiple virtual execution domains are efficiently supported in a mobile platform. Each execution domain requires high-performance graphics services for full-featured user interfaces such as smooth scrolling, background image blurring, and 3D images. However, graphics service is hard to be virtualized because multiple service components (e.g. ION and Fence) are involved. Moreover, the complexity of Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) device driver also makes harder virtualizing graphics service. In this paper, we propose a technique to virtualize the graphics architecture of Android mobile platform in KVM/ARM environment. The Android graphics architecture relies on underlying Linux kernel services such as the frame buffer memory allocator ION, the buffer synchronization service Fence, GPU device driver, and the display synchronization service VSync. These kernel services are provided as device files in Linux kernel. Our approach is to para-virtualize these device files based on a split device driver model. A major challenge is to translate guest-view of information into host-view of information, e.g. memory address translation, file descriptor management, and GPU Memory Management Unit (MMU) manipulation. The experimental results show that the proposed graphics virtualization technique achieved almost 84%-100% performance of native applications.
ER -