Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Security and Robustness for Intermittent Computing Using Cross-Layer Post-CMOS Approaches

该研究项目处于解决各种物联网（IoT）应用中广泛使用的资源有限、通常关闭的能量收集设备安全漏洞的前沿。从可穿戴设备到遥感和工业系统，保护这些设备的潜在影响是巨大的。该项目的新颖之处在于，它专注于发现这些设备的固有漏洞，包括物理攻击、意外断电和故障，以及其他独特的威胁，并提出有效的解决方案。考虑到连接设备的广泛网络，利用这些漏洞可能会对财产和生命造成无法弥补的损失。该项目更广泛的意义和重要性在于，迫切需要全面、轻量级的防御策略，因为现有的防御策略要么开销高，要么不完整，不适合资源受限的节点。本研究的技术方法围绕这些计算节点的安全间歇鲁棒计算（SIRC）的发展展开。这是通过利用新兴的非易失性（NV）、基于自旋的设备来构建轻量级可重构逻辑来实现的。通过将中间电路值存储在NV器件中，可以保证在各种攻击下的间歇鲁棒计算。同时，该研究采用了创新的电路架构算法技术，有望在物联网安全领域取得显着进展。这项研究有效地弥合了始终存在的安全威胁与当前防御方案的局限性之间的差距，标志着物联网应用的弹性未来迈出了重要的一步。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research project is at the forefront of addressing security vulnerabilities in resource-limited, normally-off energy harvesting devices widely utilized across various Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Ranging from wearable devices to remote sensing and industrial systems, the potential impact of securing these devices is significant. The project's novelties are its focus on discovering the inherent vulnerabilities of these devices, including physical attacks, unanticipated power outages and failures, and other unique threats, and proposing effective solutions for them. Exploiting these vulnerabilities could lead to irreparable damage to property and lives, considering the extensive network of connected devices. The project's broader significance and importance lie in the critical need for comprehensive, lightweight defense strategies, as the existing ones either exhibit high overheads or are incomplete, rendering them unfit for resource-constrained nodes.The technical approach of this research revolves around the development of Secure Intermittent-Robust Computation (SIRC) for these computing nodes. This is achieved by capitalizing on emerging non-volatile (NV), spin-based devices to construct lightweight reconfigurable logic. The assurance of intermittent-robust computation during various attacks is facilitated by storing intermediate circuit values in NV devices. Concurrently, the research employs innovative circuit-architecture-algorithm techniques, promising notable advances in the domain of IoT security. This research effectively bridges the gap between the ever-present security threats and the limitations of current defense schemes, marking a significant stride toward the resilient future of IoT applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.