Analysis of the development of mobile applications in engineering: architecture, challenges, and technological limitations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63688/cognitivatech.v1.i1.4Keywords:
mobile applications, software engineering, software architecture, mobile computing.Abstract
This study analyzes the development of mobile applications in the field of engineering, considering their evolution, architectural design, and main limitations compared to traditional desktop applications. Based on a literature review and industry reports from sources such as the International Data Corporation, the GSMA, and market analyses from Statista, a sustained global growth in mobile device adoption is evident, which has driven increased interest in the development of more complex mobile solutions. However, the results show that mobile applications still face significant constraints in processing power, energy consumption, scalability, and the execution of advanced simulations, limiting their applicability in high-performance engineering environments. Furthermore, the analysis of mobile application architecture—based on presentation, business, service, and data layers—highlights advantages in system modularity but also reveals performance challenges and dependency on external connectivity, particularly when cloud-based solutions or tools such as MATLAB are used. Overall, it is concluded that the development of mobile applications in engineering is currently in a transitional technological stage, not yet reaching the maturity level of desktop platforms, but showing strong potential for evolution due to advances in cross-platform frameworks and distributed computing technologies. This study contributes to the identification of key technical and conceptual challenges that should be addressed in future developments to enhance the efficiency and functionality of mobile engineering applications.References
Abdalha, A., & Muasaad, A. (2008). A study of interface usability issues of mobile learning applications for smartphones from the user’s perspective. International Journal on Integrating Technology in Education.
Alturki, R., & Gay, V. (2018). Usability attributes for mobile applications: A systematic review. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99966-1_5
Baresi, L., Griswold, W. G., Lewis, G. A., Autili, M., Malavolta, I., & Julien, C. (2020). Trends and challenges for software engineering in the mobile domain. IEEE Software, 38(1), 88–96. https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2020.2994306 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2020.2994306
Bathe, K. (1996). Finite element procedures. Prentice-Hall.
Brzan, P. P., Bratan, T., Eberle, C., & Kamel Boulos, M. N. (2016). Mobile applications for diabetes self-management: A systematic review. Journal of Medical Systems, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-016-0564-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-016-0564-8
Carroll, A., & Heiser, G. (2010). An analysis of power consumption in a smartphone. USENIX Annual Technical Conference. https://www.usenix.org
Chau, N., & Jung, S. (2018). Dynamic analysis with Android container: Challenges and opportunities. Digital Investigation, 27, 38–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2018.05.002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2018.09.007
Deelman, E., & Chervenak, A. (2008). Data management challenges of data-intensive scientific workflows. Cluster Computing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/CCGRID.2008.24
GSMA. (2021). The Mobile Economy 2021. GSM Association. https://www.gsma.com
IDC. (2022). Smartphone shipments declined in Q4 but 2021 remained growth year. International Data Corporation. https://www.idc.com
Jabangwe, R., & others. (2018). Software engineering process models for mobile app development: A systematic literature review. Journal of Systems and Software, 145, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2018.07.035 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2018.08.028
Kitchenham, B., et al. (2010). Systematic literature reviews in software engineering. Information and Software Technology, 52(8), 715–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2008.09.009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2010.03.006
Li, C., Bai, J., & Tang, J. (2019). Joint optimization of data placement and scheduling for edge computing. Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, 125, 93–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpdc.2018.10.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpdc.2018.11.006
MATLAB. (2022). MATLAB documentation. MathWorks. https://www.mathworks.com
Minichiello, A., et al. (2020). Mobile application-based particle image velocimetry tool. Computers and Education, 29, 517–537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.103568 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.22290
Moustefaoui, G., & Tariq, F. (2018). Mobile apps engineering: Design, development, security and testing. CRC Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315166926
Nazar, A., Jiao, P., Zhang, Q., Egbe, K., & Alavi, A. (2021). Smartphone-based structural health monitoring approach. IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, 24(3), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1109/MIM.2021.9453478 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MIM.2021.9448251
Oliveira, M. T., et al. (2021). GNSS smartphone receiver network for atmospheric delay estimation. Advances in Space Research, 68(12), 4794–4805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2021.07.012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2020.09.041
Phongtraychak, A., & Dolgaya, D. (2018). Evolution of mobile applications. MATEC Web of Conferences, 155, 01027. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201815501027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201815501027
Qian, F., Wang, Z., Gerber, A., Mao, Z., Sen, S., & Spatscheck, O. (2011). Profiling resource usage for mobile applications. MobiSys Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/1999995.2000023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1999995.2000026
Sosa, J., Thomas, P., Delia, L., & Caseres, J. (2018). Mobile application development approaches: A comparative analysis. Argentina Congress of Computer Science.
Statista. (2023). Global smartphone shipment statistics. https://www.statista.com
Swetina, J., Lu, G., Jacobs, P., Ennesser, F., & Song, J. (2014). Toward a standardized M2M service layer platform. IEEE Wireless Communications, 21(3), 20–26. https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2014.6845049 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2014.6845045
Taylor, P. (2023). Global smartphone unit shipments 2009–2022. Statista Technology & Telecommunications. https://www.statista.com
Vishal, K., & Kushwaha, S. (2018). Mobile application development research based on Xamarin platform. International Conference on Computing Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCS.2018 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCS.2018.00027
Williams, G., Gheisari, M., & Chen, P. (2015). BIM-based AR maintenance system. Journal of Management in Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000320
Zaher, M., Greenwood, D., & Marzouk, M. (2018). Mobile augmented reality applications for construction projects. Construction Innovation, 18(2), 152–166. https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-03-2017-0020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CI-02-2017-0013
Zein, S., Salleh, N., & Grundy, J. (2023). Systematic reviews in mobile app software engineering: A tertiary study. Information and Software Technology, 164, 107323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2023.107323 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2023.107323
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Ronald Sebastián Beltrán Cushcagua (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The article is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Unless otherwise stated, associated published material is distributed under the same licence.
