Baseline Requirements for Comparative Research on Cross-Platform Mobile Development: A Literature Survey

Technical implementations are common in computing research to objectively assess hypotheses. In mobile computing, and more specifically within research on cross-platform mobile development, such implementations are usually in the form of mobile apps. Due to the lack of a common ground for research on app development, studies tend to lack depth and miss out on possible contributions. In an attempt to better the situation, we propose a technical baseline for future research on cross-platform app development to draw from based on previous studies’ technical implementations. We assess and scrutinize existing literature to find trends, and use the generated knowledge to lay out the baseline proposa

Animations in Cross-Platform Mobile Applications: An Evaluation of Tools, Metrics and Performance

Along with the proliferation of high-end and performant mobile devices, we find that the inclusion of visually animated user interfaces are commonplace, but that research on their performance is scarce. Thus, for this study, eight mobile apps have been developed for scrutiny and assessment to report on the device hardware impact and penalties caused by transitions and animations, with an emphasis on apps generated using cross-platform development frameworks. The tasks we employ for animation performance measuring, are those of (i) a complex animation consisting of multiple elements, (ii) the opening sequence of a side menu navigation pattern, and (iii) a transition animation during in-app page navigation. We employ multiple performance profiling tools, and scrutinize metrics including frames per second (FPS), CPU usage, device memory usage and GPU memory usage, all to uncover the impact caused by executing transitions and animations. We uncover important differences in device hardware utilization during animations across the different cross-platform technologies employed. Additionally, Android and iOS are found to differ greatly in terms of memory consumption, CPU usage and rendered FPS, a discrepancy that is true for both the native and cross-platform apps. The findings we report are indeed factors contributing to the complexity of app development.Animations in Cross-Platform Mobile Applications: An Evaluation of Tools, Metrics and PerformanceacceptedVersio

Orbital assembly and maintenance study

The requirements, conceptual design, tradeoffs, procedures, and techniques for orbital assembly of the support structure of the microwave power transmission system and the radio astronomy telescope are described. Thermal and stress analyses, packaging, alignment, and subsystems requirements are included along with manned vs. automated and transportation tradeoffs. Technical and operational concepts for the manned and automated maintenance of satellites were investigated and further developed results are presented

The design, development and evaluation of cross-platform mobile applications and services supporting social accountability monitoring

Local government processes require meaningful and effective participation from both citizens and their governments in order to remain truly democratic. This project investigates the use of mobile phones as a tool for supporting this participation. MobiSAM, a system which aims to enhance the Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) methodology at local government level, has been designed and implemented. The research presented in this thesis examines tools and techniques for the development of cross-platform client applications, allowing access to the MobiSAM service, across heterogeneous mobile platforms, handsets and interaction styles. Particular attention is paid to providing an easily navigated user interface (UI), as well as offering clear and concise visualisation capabilities. Depending on the host device, interactivity is also included within these visualisations, potentially helping provide further insight into the visualised data. Guided by the results obtained from a comprehensive baseline study of the Grahamstown area, steps are taken in an attempt to lower the barrier of entry to using the MobiSAM service, potentially maximising its market reach. These include extending client application support to all identified mobile platforms (including feature phones); providing multi-language UIs (in English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans); as well as ensuring client application data usage is kept to a minimum. The particular strengths of a given device are also leveraged, such as its camera capabilities and built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) module, potentially allowing for more effective engagement with local municipalities. Additionally, a Short Message Service (SMS) gateway is developed, allowing all Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) compatible handsets access to the MobiSAM service via traditional SMS. Following an iterative, user-centred design process, a thorough evaluation of the client application is also performed, in an attempt to gather feedback relating to the navigation and visualisation capabilities. The results of which are used to further refine its design. A comparative usability evaluation using two different versions of the cross-platform client application is also undertaken, highlighting the perceived memorability, learnabilitv and satisfaction of each. Results from the evaluation reveals which version of the client application is to be deployed during future pilot studies

Progressive Web Apps: the Definite Approach to Cross-Platform Development?

Although development practices for apps have matured, cross-platform development remains a prominent topic. Typically, apps should always support both Android and iOS devices. They ought to run smoothly on various hardware, and be compatible with a host of platform versions. Additionally, device categories beyond smartphone and tablets have emerged, which makes multi-platform support even trickier. Truly developing an app once and serving the multitude of possible targets remains an issue despite having cross-platform frameworks that are acknowledged by practice and research. The technology unifier remains to be found, but Progressive Web Apps (PWA) might be a step towards it. In this paper, we analyse the foundations of PWAs in cross-platform development and scrutinize the status quo of current possibilities. Based on our observations, we investigate unified development, and discuss open questions. We seek to stimulate interest and narrow the immense gap that has arisen since industry started to embrace PWAs