HUAWEI introduces the new HarmonyOS operating system

At the HUAWEI Developer Conference, HarmonyOS, a new operating system with powerful microkernel-based functionality designed to provide a unified user experience on all devices in any usage scenario, was unveiled.It will initially be used on a variety of smart devices such as smart watches, smart screens, speakers, and in-car on-board computers, through which HUAWEI plans to create a complete integrated ecosystem with a reliable and secure environment.

“Today, we are entering the era of total connectivity, where people want a uniform experience with any digital device, in a wide variety of scenarios, with perfect interoperability between them,” said HUAWEI Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu. – To meet these expectations, we needed to create an operating system with improved cross-platform compatibility. We needed an OS that could work efficiently in all scenarios, that could be used on a variety of devices and platforms, that would meet user requirements for performance and information security. HarmonyOS is fundamentally different from Android and iOS. It is a microkernel-based OS that provides high usability in all scenarios. It has a robust and secure architecture and supports seamless interaction between different digital devices. It allows developers, once they have created an application, to deploy it flexibly on different types of devices.”.

Key technical features of HarmonyOS:

HarmonyOS was developed with four technical features that give it an undeniable advantage over existing solutions.

1. Seamless: The first mobile OS with a distributed architecture, providing a comfortable user experience on any device

Application of a distributed architecture and distributed virtual bus technology, enabling HarmonyOS to provide a common communication platform, distributed data management, distributed scheduling of tasks and support for virtual peripherals. With HarmonyOS, application developers will no longer be forced to work with core technologies for distributed applications, allowing them to focus on their own customized service logistics. Distributed application development will be easier than ever before. Applications built on HarmonyOS are able to run on different types of devices, providing a seamless experience in all types of use cases.

2. Deterministic delay mechanism and high-performance IPC

HarmonyOS will address performance degradation through the use of the Deterministic Latency Engine and high-performance Inter Process Communication IPC . Deterministic delay mechanism sets task priority and time limits for pre-planning. Resources will be allocated to higher priority tasks first, resulting in a 25.7% reduction in application latency. The micro-core can increase IPC performance by up to five times over existing systems.

3. Security: The microkernel-based architecture allows for increased reliability and security of the system from the very basics

HarmonyOS uses a new proprietary microkernel-based architecture with improved security and low latency. The microkernel was designed to simplify kernel functions in order to implement as many system services as possible in user mode outside the kernel and to provide mutual protection. The micro-kernel itself takes care of only the most basic services, such as thread scheduling and IPC.

HarmonyOS microkernel design uses a formal method of verification to improve reliability and security at the most basic level of Trusted Execution Environment. The formal verification method is an efficient mathematical approach to verify the correctness of a system from the source, while traditional verification methods such as functional verification and attack simulation are only applicable for some scenarios. Formal methods, in contrast, can use data models to verify all software execution paths.

HarmonyOS is the first OS that uses formal on-device authentication TEE , which greatly improves security. In addition, thanks to a much smaller code base about 1000 times smaller than the Linux kernel , HarmonyOS significantly reduces the attack surface.

4. Unification: integrated development environment that supports multiple devices multi-device IDE allows applications to be developed once and deployed on multiple devices

With a versatile integrated development environment, multi-language unified compilation and distributed architecture, HarmonyOS can automatically adapt to different controls and screen interactions, and supports drag-and-drop control and visual programming. This allows developers to more efficiently create applications for multiple types of devices. With the universal IDE, developers can write applications once and then deploy them to different devices, creating a tightly integrated ecosystem for any usage scenario.

HUAWEI ARK Compiler is the first static compiler which can run the same as the Android Virtual Machine, allowing developers to compile a wide range of advanced languages. By supporting unified compilation in multiple languages, HUAWEI ARK Compiler helps developers significantly improve their productivity.

Plans for developers and ecosystem development

At the developers conference, HUAWEI announced the development plan for HarmonyOS and its kernel. In the first stage of HarmonyOS 1.0 will be used in HUAWEI smart screens, two of which will be available later this year. Over the next three years, HarmonyOS will be optimized and gradually deployed on other HUAWEI smart devices, including wearables, HUAWEI Vision and car multimedia centers.

The success of HarmonyOS will depend on the dynamics of the application ecosystem and the involvement of third-party developers. To promote the wider diffusion of the new OS, HUAWEI will make HarmonyOS an open source platform available worldwide. Also, HUAWEI will establish a foundation and community to better engage and support developers.

China will be the foundation for creating a powerful application ecosystem and developed user community, then they will expand to the global market. HUAWEI will work closely with ecosystem partners to offer individuals and companies across industries new applications and services to help them become more efficient and productive.

HarmonyOS will unlock new benefits and opportunities for consumers, equipment providers and application developers. For users, it will open up access to new intelligent services and applications for a wide variety of devices and life scenarios. Hardware vendors gain competitive advantage in growing AI, 5G and IoT markets. Application developers will be able to attract more users with less investment and quickly introduce innovative services for a wide variety of market segments.

“We believe HarmonyOS will give new impetus to the industry and enrich the ecosystem,” added Richard Yu. – Our goal is to offer people really useful and convenient solutions for any task. We invite developers from around the world to join us in creating a new ecosystem to give users new capabilities for all life situations and smart device scenarios.”.