Smart Card Operating Systems: Past, Present and Future

Over the last twenty years, the software in smart cards has radically changed. This has happened for several reasons, smart card software was initially rigid and monolithic and has now become more flexible with a clear separation between “operating system level” and “application level” parts. What is more, application-level resources are now much more accessible (nearly to end user level). Nevertheless, smart cards have evolved separately from an ever more distributed “outside world”. This paper presents two contributions to next-generation smart card operating systems. The first, called CAMILLE, relies on the exo-kernel approach to obtain extensibility, without compromising security, raising making operating systems accessible to application designers. The second, called AWARE, reveals the mismatch between the smart card execution model and the role it is expected to play in distributed systems. We propose solutions that allow for multi-tasking and reactivity. Beyond these projects, there are a number of obstacles that need to be overcome before we can reach what might be the ultimate step in smart card operating system design. In conclusion, this paper presents current work around two related challenges, namely resource control and real-time operation.