Self-Rectified Graphite-Based Reprogrammable One-Time Programmable (RS-OTP) Memory for Embedded Applications

A graphite-based RRAM device with a self-rectifying characteristic named “non-linearity (NL)” is developed for a high-density crossbar array for in-memory computing with low power and high scalability. Meanwhile, the reprogrammable functions are presented in self-selected RRAM as a promising candidate for one-time programmable (OTP) in the emerging memory-embedded applications such as security, system-on-chip (SoC), and Internet of Things (IoT).

Rtkaller: State-aware Task Generation for RTOS Fuzzing

A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system designed to meet certain real-time requirements. It is widely used in embedded applications, and its correctness is safety-critical. However, the validation of RTOS is challenging due to its complex real-time features and large code base. In this paper, we propose Rtkaller , a state-aware kernel fuzzer for the vulnerability detection in RTOS. First, Rtkaller implements an automatic task initialization to transform the syscall sequences into initial tasks with more real-time information. Then, a coverage-guided task mutation is designed to generate those tasks that explore more in-depth real-time related code for parallel execution. Moreover, Rtkaller realizes a task modification to correct those tasks that may hang during fuzzing. We evaluated it on recent versions of rt-Linux, which is one of the most widely used RTOS. Compared to the state-of-the-art kernel fuzzers Syzkaller and Moonshine, Rtkaller achieves the same code coverage at the speed of 1.7X and 1.6X, gains an increase of 26.1% and 22.0% branch coverage within 24 hours respectively. More importantly, Rtkaller has confirmed 28 previously unknown vulnerabilities that are missed by other fuzzers.

Embedded Radiation sensor with OBIST structure for applications in mixed signal systems

Oscillation based testing (OBT) has proven to be a simple and effective test strategy for numerous kind of circuits. In this work, OBT is applied to a radiation sensor to be used as a VLSI cell in embedded applications, implementing an oscillation built-in self-test (OBIST) structure. The oscillation condition is achieved by means of a minimally intrusive switched feedback loop and the response evaluation circuit can be included in a very simple way, minimizing the hardware overhead. The fault simulation indicates a fault coverage of 100% for the circuit under test.Keywords: fault simulation, mixed signal testing, OBIST, oscillation-based test, VLSI testing.

FPGA Implementation of Protected Compact AES S–Box Using CQCG for Embedded Applications

In this work, we obtain an area proficient composite field arithmetic Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) Substitution (S) byte and its inverse logic design. The size of this design is calculated by the number of gates used for hardware implementation. Most of the existing AES Substitution box hardware implementation uses separate Substitution byte and its inverse hardware structures. But we implement the both in the same module and a control signal is used to select the substitution byte for encryption operation and its inverse for the decryption operation. By comparing the gate utilization of the previous AES S–Box implementation, we reduced the gate utilization up to 5% that is we take only 78 EX-OR gates and 36 AND gates for implementing the both Substitution byte and its inverse. While implementing an AES algorithm in circuitry or programming, it is liable to be detected by hackers using any one of the side channel attacks. Data to be added with a random bit sequence to prevent from the above mentioned side channel attacks.

A Multi-Replica Centered Commit Protocol for Distributed Real-Time and Embedded Applications

Modern multi-site database applications are not only time-driven but also require efficient quality of services with no single-node failure. It might be ideally achieved using database replication techniques. The transactions, being a basic component of these applications, are more likely to miss their deadlines because of requiring unpredictably long time to access remote data items. The temporal validity of data is another issue requiring attention to be paid. To address these problems, a Cluster-Replicas with Efficient Distributed Lazy Update (CRED) protocol is proposed in this paper. The CRED protocol increases the chance of timely execution of transactions and data freshness in an unpredictable workload environment by utilizing the lazy replica update strategy. It reduces the negative impact of the burst workload with a marginal overhead of ensuring timely-updated replicas. The simulation results confirm that the CRED outperforms the ORDER protocol by up to 4%.

A Multi-Replica-Centered Commit Protocol for Distributed Real-Time and Embedded Applications

Modern multi-site database applications are not only time-driven but also require efficient quality of services with no single-node failure. It might be ideally achieved using database replication techniques. The transactions, being a basic component of these applications, are more likely to miss their deadlines because of requiring unpredictably long time to access remote data items. The temporal validity of data is another issue requiring attention to be paid. To address these problems, a Cluster-Replicas with Efficient Distributed Lazy Update (CRED) protocol is proposed in this paper. The CRED protocol increases the chance of timely execution of transactions and data freshness in an unpredictable workload environment by utilizing the lazy replica update strategy. It reduces the negative impact of the burst workload with a marginal overhead of ensuring timely-updated replicas. The simulation results confirm that the CRED outperforms the ORDER protocol by up to 4%.

Reliable Energy-Aware Scheduling Algorithm With Multi-Level Budget for Real-Time Embedded System

Energy consumption of embedded applications has rapidly increased with the advancement of technology and computing. There is a little improvement in energy consumption as compared to computing and storage capacity. Although computing performance has been continuously increasing, power/energy consumption is more critical in the design of real-time embedded systems. Real-time embedded applications need a power management technique to judicially balance the energy consumption and computing performance. It should be done in such a way that the system performance improves along with an increase in the lifespan of the system. The proposed methodology presented in this paper deals with the minimization of energy for time-critical embedded applications. Simulation studies, along with theoretical analysis, have been carried out to show the effectiveness of the proposed three-phase reliable energy-aware scheduling method. It is observed that the proposed approach provides better tolerance (approximately four times) and consumes less energy (35% to 45%) for a wide range of applications.