OTA updates mechanisms: a taxonomy and techniques catalog

The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in industry and daily life has increased. The embedded software of IoT systems requires updates over time for long-term maintainability, bug xes, and improvements. Developers and manufacturers design and implement OTA update systems in ad-hoc manners because there are no speci c standards and little empirical information about mechanisms. This article describes a systematic literature review to identify proposed OTA update mechanisms, and a taxonomy to orga- nize them for system designers. Academic and professional (grey) litera- ture was gathered from four information sources; 109 studies were found, of which 29 remained after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria; and they were recognized as belonging to six mechanisms (categories). Each technique was associated to a mechanism, yielding an (initial) catalog of OTA update techniques. This taxonomy and catalog can be used to design IoT and CPS applications that must include OTA update functionality.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Prosumer Nanogrids: A Cybersecurity Assessment

Nanogrids are customer deployments that can generate and inject electricity into the power grid. These deployments are based on behind-the-meter renewable energy resources and are labeled as “prosumer setups”, allowing customers to not only consume electricity, but also produce it. A residential nanogrid is comprised of a physical layer that is a household-scale electric power system, and a cyber layer that is used by manufacturers and/or grid operators to remotely monitor and control the nanogrid. With the increased penetration of renewable energy resources, nanogrids are at the forefront of a paradigm shift in the operational landscape and their correct operation is vital to the electric power grid. In this paper, we perform a cybersecurity assessment of a state-of-the art residential nanogrid deployment. For this purpose, we deployed a real-world experimental nanogrid setup that is based on photovoltaic (PV) generation. We analyzed the security and the resiliency of this system at both the cyber and physical layers. While we noticed improvements in the cybersecurity measures employed in the current nanogrid compared to previous generations, there are still major concerns. Our experiments show that these concerns range from exploiting well-known protocols, such as Secure Shell (SSH) and Domain Name Service (DNS), to the leakage of confidential information, and major shortcomings in the software updating mechanism. While the compromise of multiple nanogrids can have a negative effect on the entire power grid, we focus our analysis on individual households and have determined through Simulink-based simulations the economic loss of a compromised deployment.National Science Foundation under Grant 1850406

Integrations between Autonomous System and Modern Computing Techniques: A Mini-review

The emulation of human behavior for autonomous problem solving has been an interdisciplinary field of research. Generally, classical control systems are used for static environments, where external disturbances and changes in internal parameters can be fully modulated before or neglected during operation. However, classical control systems are inadequate at addressing environmental uncertainty. By contrast, autonomous systems, which were first studied in the field of control systems, can be applied in an unknown environment. This paper summarizes the state of the art autonomous systems by first discussing the definition, modeling, and system structure of autonomous systems and then providing a perspective on how autonomous systems can be integrated with advanced resources (e.g., the Internet of Things, big data, Over-the-Air, and federated learning). Finally, what comes after reaching full autonomy is briefly discussed

Commodity single board computer clusters and their applications

© 2018 Current commodity Single Board Computers (SBCs) are sufficiently powerful to run mainstream operating systems and workloads. Many of these boards may be linked together, to create small, low-cost clusters that replicate some features of large data center clusters. The Raspberry Pi Foundation produces a series of SBCs with a price/performance ratio that makes SBC clusters viable, perhaps even expendable. These clusters are an enabler for Edge/Fog Compute, where processing is pushed out towards data sources, reducing bandwidth requirements and decentralizing the architecture. In this paper we investigate use cases driving the growth of SBC clusters, we examine the trends in future hardware developments, and discuss the potential of SBC clusters as a disruptive technology. Compared to traditional clusters, SBC clusters have a reduced footprint, are low-cost, and have low power requirements. This enables different models of deployment—particularly outside traditional data center environments. We discuss the applicability of existing software and management infrastructure to support exotic deployment scenarios and anticipate the next generation of SBC. We conclude that the SBC cluster is a new and distinct computational deployment paradigm, which is applicable to a wider range of scenarios than current clusters. It facilitates Internet of Things and Smart City systems and is potentially a game changer in pushing application logic out towards the network edge

A Pattern-Language for Self-Healing Internet-of-Things Systems

Internet-of-Things systems are assemblies of highly-distributed and heterogeneous parts that, in orchestration, work to provide valuable services to end-users in many scenarios. These systems depend on the correct operation of sensors, actuators, and third-party services, and the failure of a single one can hinder the proper functioning of the whole system, making error detection and recovery of paramount importance, but often overlooked. By drawing inspiration from other research areas, such as cloud, embedded, and mission-critical systems, we present a set of patterns for self-healing IoT systems. We discuss how their implementation can improve system reliability by providing error detection, error recovery, and health mechanisms maintenance. (c) 2020 ACM

OTA-TinyML: Over the air deployment of TinyML models and execution on IoT devices

This article presents a novel over-the-air (OTA) technique to remotely deploy tiny ML models over Internet of Things (IoT) devices and perform tasks, such as machine learning (ML) model updates, firmware reflashing, reconfiguration, or repurposing. We discuss relevant challenges for OTA ML deployment over IoT both at the scientific and engineering level. We propose OTA-TinyML to enable resource-constrained IoT devices to perform end-to-end fetching, storage, and execution of many TinyML models. OTA-TinyML loads the C source file of ML models from a web server into the embedded IoT devices via HTTPS. OTA-TinyML is tested by performing remote fetching of six types of ML models, storing them on four types of memory units, then loading and executing on seven popular MCU boards

Contributions to Securing Software Updates in IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a large network of connected devices. In IoT, devices can communicate with each other or back-end systems to transfer data or perform assigned tasks. Communication protocols used in IoT depend on target applications but usually require low bandwidth. On the other hand, IoT devices are constrained, having limited resources, including memory, power, and computational resources. Considering these limitations in IoT environments, it is difficult to implement best security practices. Consequently, network attacks can threaten devices or the data they transfer. Thus it is crucial to react quickly to emerging vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities should be mitigated by firmware updates or other necessary updates securely. Since IoT devices usually connect to the network wirelessly, such updates can be performed Over-The-Air (OTA). This dissertation presents contributions to enable secure OTA software updates in IoT. In order to perform secure updates, vulnerabilities must first be identified and assessed. In this dissertation, first, we present our contribution to designing a maturity model for vulnerability handling. Next, we analyze and compare common communication protocols and security practices regarding energy consumption. Finally, we describe our designed lightweight protocol for OTA updates targeting constrained IoT devices. IoT devices and back-end systems often use incompatible protocols that are unable to interoperate securely. This dissertation also includes our contribution to designing a secure protocol translator for IoT. This translation is performed inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) with TLS interception. This dissertation also contains our contribution to key management and key distribution in IoT networks. In performing secure software updates, the IoT devices can be grouped since the updates target a large number of devices. Thus, prior to deploying updates, a group key needs to be established among group members. In this dissertation, we present our designed secure group key establishment scheme. Symmetric key cryptography can help to save IoT device resources at the cost of increased key management complexity. This trade-off can be improved by integrating IoT networks with cloud computing and Software Defined Networking (SDN).In this dissertation, we use SDN in cloud networks to provision symmetric keys efficiently and securely. These pieces together help software developers and maintainers identify vulnerabilities, provision secret keys, and perform lightweight secure OTA updates. Furthermore, they help devices and systems with incompatible protocols to be able to interoperate

IoT-based digital twin for energy cyber-physical systems: design and implementation

With the emergence of distributed energy resources (DERs), with their associated communication and control complexities, there is a need for an efficient platform that can digest all the incoming data and ensure the reliable operation of the power system. The digital twin (DT) is a new concept that can unleash tremendous opportunities and can be used at the different control and security levels of power systems. This paper provides a methodology for the modelling of the implementation of energy cyber-physical systems (ECPSs) that can be used for multiple applications. Two DT types are introduced to cover the high-bandwidth and the low-bandwidth applications that need centric oversight decision making. The concept of the digital twin is validated and tested using Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a cloud host that can incorporate physical and data models as well as being able to receive live measurements from the different actual power and control entities. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the real-time implementation of the DT for the ECPS based on internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing technologies. The normalized mean-square error for the low-bandwidth DT case was 3.7%. In the case of a high-bandwidth DT, the proposed method showed superior performance in reconstructing the voltage estimates, with 98.2% accuracy from only the controllers’ states

Cyber Risk Assessment and Scoring Model for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The commercial-off-the-shelf small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market is expanding rapidly in response to interest from hobbyists, commercial businesses, and military operators. The core commercial mission set directly relates to many current military requirements and strategies, with a priority on short range, low cost, real time aerial imaging, and limited modular payloads. These small vehicles present small radar cross sections, low heat signatures, and carry a variety of sensors and payloads. As with many new technologies, security seems secondary to the goal of reaching the market as soon as innovation is viable. Research indicates a growth in exploits and vulnerabilities applicable to small UAV systems, from individual UAV guidance and autopilot controls to the mobile ground station devices that may be as simple as a cellphone application controlling several aircraft. Even if developers strive to improve the security of small UAVs, consumers are left without meaningful insight into the hardware and software protections installed when buying these systems. To date, there is no marketed or accredited risk index for small UAVs. Building from similar domains of aircraft operation, information technologies, cyber-physical systems, and cyber insurance, a cyber risk assessment methodology tailored for small UAVs is proposed and presented in this research. Through case studies of popular models and tailored mission-environment scenarios, the assessment is shown to meet the three objectives of ease-of-use, breadth, and readability. By allowing a cyber risk assessment at or before acquisition, organizations and individuals will be able to accurately compare and choose the best aircraft for their mission