Relative Study in Architecture and Design Methodologies for Secured Real Time Embedded Systems

The embedded systems field is growing rapidly,with devices such as cellular phones, PDAs, smart cards, and digital music players permeating society. On the horizon are futuristic technologies such as embedded network sensors and wearable computers, which promise even greater interaction between humans and machines. As embedded devices are increasingly integrated into personal and commercial infrastructures, security becomes a paramount issue. For example, if a patient is wearing a heart-monitoring device that sends data wirelessly to a doctor, the embedded system must keep this information confidential and deliver it uncorrupted to the doctor. An embedded network sensor monitoring water quality to prevent bioterrorism must have multiple methods to detect tampering in both hardware and software, lest an attacker bypass security measures and corrupt the water supply. The design of security for embedded systems differs from traditional security design because these systems are resource-constrained in their capacities (and consequently in their defenses) and easily accessible to adversaries at the physical layer. Embedded security can’t be solved at a single security abstraction layer, but rather is a system problem spanning multiple abstraction levels. We attempt to provide a unified and holistic view of embedded system security by first analyzing the typical functional security requirements for embedded systems from an end-user perspective. We then identify the implied challenges for embedded system architects, as well as hardware and software designers (e.g., tamper-resistant embedded system design, processing requirements for security, impact of security on battery life for battery-powered systems, etc.). We also survey solution techniques to address these challenges, drawing from both current practice and emerging research, and identify open research problems that will require innovations in embedded system architecture and design methodologies.