Implementation of a Server Architecture for Secure Reconfiguration of Embedded Systems

摘要

Field reconfigurable logic finds an increased integration in both industrial and consumer applications. A need for secure reconfiguration techniques on these devices arises as live firmware updates are essential for a guaranteed continuity of the application’s performance. Ideally, a wide variety of different reconfigurable devices in a range of applications should be configurable with suitable firmware from a central location, since outdated or wrong configuration data could potentially cause irreversible damage to the device. At the same time eavesdropping must be made unfeasibly difficult to keep the intellectual properties of the application provider secured. This work proposes a software architecture for a server platform allowing secure bidirectional communication over TCP/IP with reconfigurable logic in the field. Moreover a performance comparison between C# and Java is discussed for the different cryptographic algorithms applied in the application.