Dynamic frequency scaling on android platforms for energy consumption reduction

Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) is an efficient energy saving technique for processing units. This paper evaluates the impact of the DVFS on the energy consumption, when it is applied to adjust the operational frequency of an Android based smartphone during common mobile activities, such as 3G and Wi-Fi communications. An experimental infrastructure was defined to carry out energy measurements, using a simulated environment and a Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone. After defining the best operational frequency for each activity, we identified the amount of energy that could be saved if the smartphone was using an optimized strategy to adjust the frequency. Results of the proposed approach were compared to the performance mode of this smartphone and an average energy reduction of about 23.4% was obtained.