- As joint R&D effort of seven EU countries, nSHIELD aims to improve security capabilities in the next generation of Embedded Systems to ensure dependability, security and data privacy in sensible and safety critical applications.
- The consortium will leverage its expertise in infrastructure protection, avionics and transportation, to implement intelligent centers, dependable systems and innovative solutions that will facilitate the provisioning of dependable services in everyday life.
A consortium whose members are based in seven European Union countries has launched a project to enhance the secure and dependable use of technology in critical embedded systems named nSHIELD.
nSHIELD will establish:
- A reference architecture that will enable the dynamic, intelligent composition of heterogeneous devices and services for security applications.
- A new generation of Embedded Systems enriched with innovative security functionalities.
- A semantic framework to automatically tailor, in a context-aware way, dependability and security capabilities in different domains.
nSHIELD's objective is to create a standard embedded systems application platform that guarantees the security and confidentiality of communications and transmissions while respecting user privacy. Embedded systems and computer applications are commonly used and designed to cover specific user needs, and then are integrated into wider control systems.
GPS navigators in vehicles, train and aircraft information systems, taximeters, access control systems, electronic devices that control vending machines, or industrial process controllers are examples of such applications.
The project will reduce the security risks associated with the design and the operation of these systems, especially in complex products and critical infrastructures. nSHIELD will provide a secure framework to cope both with the information contained by embedded applications and the information they convey through private networks and the internet.
The proposal includes the development of new SPD (Security, Privacy & Dependability) technologies to enhance the reusability of existing embedded systems and to improve them through increased integration with other systems. In this way, the costs and time needed to design embedded applications can also be significantly reduced.
The resulting platform can be used in a number of industrially relevant or daily life scenarios. Initially, it will be tested in the railway and aviation sectors, in social network and mobility settings, and face and voice recognition applications. For example, in a plane or a train, the solution will enhance the security system to prevent errors and reduce its vulnerability to malicious attacks. The solution will also create a secure communication framework between sensors and control units. There will be no way for hackers to manipulate the information transmitted. A global and comprehensive application, nSHIELD will establish a secure environment that ensures confidentiality and privacy in the whole system.
nSHIELD has reached the second milestone of the project, where the reference architecture and its requirements have been presented in the Annual Review celebrated in Rome last October.
The project is part of the ARTEMIS European Technology Platform. Its aim was to bring together key players in the Embedded Computing arena across the entire spectrum of industrial sectors by 17 major companies. One of its core tasks was to define a common Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) which acts as a reference for the Embedded Computing domain to attract investment from the stakeholders.
Project partners
The nSHIELD consortium counts seven countries (Italy, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Norway, Sweeden) and includes companies, universities and research centers. They are: Selex Galileo, Ansaldo STS, Acorde Technologies, ISI / ATHENA, Selex Elsag, Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation, I.P.S Sistemi Programmabili – Eurotech Security, Hellenic Aerospace Industry, Indra Software Labs, Integrated Systems Development, Movation AS, Mondragón University, Alfatroll, SEARCH-LAB, SESM scarl, Swedish Institute of Computer Science, T2 Data AB, Telcred, THYIA, Technical University of Crete, Università di Genova, Università di Udine and Università di Roma – La Sapienza.
About the project
nSHIELD project has the objective of facilitating the overall use of technology in secure conditions within critical embedded systems. nSHIELD is an R&D initiative that is promoted and funded by the ARTEMIS - Joint Undertaking initiative from the European Union that has a budget of €13 million and a three-year execution period.
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