NEOP: A Framework for Distributed Mobile Apps on Heterogeneous Devices

Today’s apps on a mobile device, such as a smartphone and a tablet, need to access various resources to deliver quality service to users’ satisfaction. These resources may include cameras, microphones, screens, processors, various specialized sensors, and data. In today’s client-server framework, resources accessible to an app are limited to those available in the device running the app, on the cloud, and likely in a few statically connected devices. However, there can be abundant resources on devices near the app-running one with desirable functionalities that can enable or empower the app’s new features and services, but cannot be easily accessed and leveraged. The NEOP (Neutron Operation Platform) framework is an app development and execution environment that removes the barrier across the devices. Heterogeneous IoT devices make the capabilities in their hardware and service software available after security and privacy authentication. An app is developed as a composition of capabilities distributed across various end devices and the cloud. Its constituent computing tasks can be dynamically created and scheduled. Different device capabilities can be selectively and dynamically recruited into the app for the optimal user experience. In this paper we describe example scenarios that motivate the next-generation app framework, the framework’s architecture, design principles, technical challenges, and details on its design and implementation. We also compare this work with related efforts on distributed mobile computing to highlight the unique contributions made by the NEOP platform.