Microchip unveils new standard of enhanced code security with the PIC18-Q24 family of MCUs

More and more everyday items are connected to the cloud—from cellphones and vehicles to smart thermostats and home appliances. With this rise in connectivity, the need for advanced security measures at the chip level, protecting both firmware and data, is critical. To defend against current and ever-expanding security threats, Microchip has launched the PIC18-Q24 family of MCUs.

To counter the threat of maliciously reprogramming a device in an embedded system, PIC18-Q24 MCUs introduce the programming and debugging interface disable (PDID) feature. When enabled, this enhanced code protection feature is designed to lock out access to the programming/debugging interface and block unauthorised attempts to read, modify or erase firmware.

“System security is only as strong as its weakest link. Any programmable component can be vulnerable, and it is essential to implement enhanced protection features to prevent potential hacks,” said Greg Robinson, corporate vice president of Microchip’s 8-bit MCU business unit. “The PIC18-Q24 family of MCUs from Microchip are designed with advanced security in the forefront, to help customers combat threats at the system’s foundation.”

Because many secure systems often connect and communicate with a wide variety of sensors, memory chips and processors, the PIC18-Q24 MCUs feature Multi-Voltage I/O (MVIO). This feature eliminates the need for external level shifters and allows the MCUs to interface with digital inputs or outputs at different operating voltages. In addition to reducing board complexity and Bill of Material (BOM) cost, MVIO makes PIC18-Q24 MCUs especially well-suited as system management processors, performing monitoring and telemetry for a larger processor. These seemingly routine tasks are typically most vulnerable to potential hackers as they try to gain access to embedded systems.

The PIC18-Q24 family is also enabled with the option to have an immutable bootloader for applications that want a secure way to upgrade firmware.

https://www.microchip.com

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Mini airport booth displays Terion and Secora Pay demos for high performance government IDs and payment

At Trustech, the tradeshow for innovative payment and identification solutions, Infineon will present the latest member of the Tegrion family, which accelerates future-proof ID applications. Infineon’s mini airport booth will also feature the world’s first PQC-enabled ePassport demonstrator. In addition, visitors can experience the convenience of seamless payment with Secora Pay X, which will be demonstrated in a pop-up manicure salon for fingernails suitable for contactless payment.

The Tegrion SLC26G is a security controller for demanding identity and government ID applications such as ePassports, national eID and eHealth Care systems. The security controller enables customers to quickly and easily implement their operating system and the corresponding applications. Even more, the controller offers highest levels of security, speed, performance and power efficiency that are essential for government ID applications. These require permanent security throughout the life of the documents, as well as fast transaction times, for example at border control when travel documents need to be checked electronically at an eGate. For this ultra-fast contactless communication, the Tegrion SLC26G integrates Very High Bit Rates (VHBR).

In addition, the security controller is equipped with the integrated Integrity Guard 32 security architecture, which provides highest levels of security without compromising on transaction performance. The Integrity Guard 32 digital security technology, combined with the Arm® v8-M instruction set and powerful crypto accelerators, offers highest levels of protection, high communication speed and extremely low power consumption. Based on Infineon’s 28 nm technology, the Tegrion family meets even most demanding security standards and requirements.

Infineon, Bundesdruckerei GmbH and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security (AISEC) present the world’s first demonstrator for an electronic passport that meets security requirements of the quantum computing era (Post Quantum Cryptography, PQC). The demonstrator shows a solution for contactless data transmission between the ePassport and the border control terminal. The solution is based on a quantum-resistant version of the Extended Access Control (EAC) protocol and secures biometric data during authentication. The security procedures are compatible with established structures and can also implement quantum-resistant encryption.

Biometric payment cards offer a more convenient and hygienic payment experience, as cardholders can verify their identity by simply placing a finger on the card sensor and tapping the card on the terminal. This allows to make the biometric payment process faster than standard PIN-based transactions. To further improve the performance and production efficiency of biometric payment cards, Infineon is working with Fingerprints™ to develop the complete Secora Pay Bio solution. This turnkey solution comes with a pre-certified Java Card operating system including Mastercard and Visa Bio applets for cost-effective, scalable production based on state-of-the-art card manufacturing equipment. A Secora Pay Bio demo will be shown at the Infineon booth, highlighting the key requirements for a successful biometric payment card solution, including the various enrolment options.

This year, Infineon’s partner Smart Chip Switzerland will present an innovative pop-up fingernail salon at the Infineon booth, giving the public the opportunity to test the next level of payment: Brave visitors can have a specially designed inlay with Infineon’s Secora Pay X solution placed directly on their fingernail for on-the-go payment. In addition, numerous other new wearable payment devices, including rings, bracelets, key fobs and watches, will be presented in the service area of the booth. All these devices are equipped with products from the Secora Pay or Secora Connect solution families for connected IoT devices for secured payment. Based on an enhanced NFC Secure Element design, Secora Connect enables smart wearables with payment, ticketing and other applications for both battery-less operation and battery-powered devices with the lowest possible power consumption to maximize battery life for the consumer.

As cities grow, public transport operators are faced with ever-increasing passenger numbers, especially during major events such as football matches and the Olympic Games. Combined with the need for sustainability and convenience, this is creating a rapidly growing market for digital ticketing and smart mobility. However, this requires open standards for designing secured, convenient and interoperable ticketing solutions with the necessary transparency and trust.

Infineon addresses this development with Calypso move, the first secured memory for simple contactless ticketing based on the Calypso® base specification. It enables manufacturers to meet the specific requirements of any transport company or authority and to avoid the use of magnetic strips, barcodes or proprietary tickets. A Calypso move sample card will be on display at the Infineon booth at Trustech.

https://wwww.infineon.com/trustech.

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Advantech upgrades ESBCs for edge AI and industry

Advantech’s range of embedded single board computers (ESBCs) are now equipped with 13th generation Intel Core processors, Intel Core mobile processors and Intel Processor N series. These new processors will bring significant performance enhancements to the SBCs, said Advantech. They are suitable for use in smart factories, machine automation, machine vision, transportation, medical, retail, and edge AI applications.
Intel’s latest processors will be integrated into three products across 2.5-inch (pico-ITX) 3.5-inch and four-inch ESBCs and launches from Q3 2023 to Q1 2024. This will improve application efficiency in intelligent factories, retail, healthcare, and energy management, said Advantech.
The new processors will increase single-thread performance by up to 1.04x, multi-thread performance by up to 1.34x, and CPU image classification inferencing performance by up to 1.25x compared to 12th Gen Intel Core processors.
The MIO-2364 2.5-inch Pico-ITX SBC will be equipped with the Intel Processor N-series. It has dual independent display (LVDS and HDMI), GbE (optional PoE/PD, 802.3at), four USB, a COM, and SMBus / I2C ports, with M.2 E-Key and M.2 B-Key expansion options. It supports iManager and software APIs and WISE-DeviceOn.
The MIO-5377R will feature the 13th Gen Intel Core processor with up to 14 cores and TDP of 28/15W. It has four simultaneous displays: LVDS / HDMI / DP / USB-C and two LAN, eight USB (including one USB4), four UART, two CANBus and three I2C ports. There are also M.2 E-Key, B-Key and M-Key (which supports NVMe) options. The SBC supports Windows 10 LTSC and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, embedded software APIs and WISE-DeviceOn.
The third SBC is the MIO-4370, a four-inch ESBC which will feature the 13th Gen Intel Core processor. This model is scalable with socket type CPU (LGA1700) and support for a standard CPU cooler. It has DDR5 4800 up to 32Gbyte and three simultaneous displays (dual HDMI+eDP). There is also dual high speed 2.5G Ethernet with TSN, two COM, CANbus and TPM and three expansion options of dual  M.2 M-Key (with support for NVMe) and M.2 E-Key. This ESBC also supports Windows 10 LTSC & Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, embedded software APIs and WISE-DeviceOn.

https://advantech.com

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Embeddable database streamlines and analyses MCU data in milliseconds

Real-time secure embedded data management software provider, ITTIA, has launched its latest database, ITTIA DB IoT 8.8 for microcontrollers, microprocessors and electronic control units. The databased streams, analyses and gains insight in real time to microcontroller data in milliseconds to advance edge computing for IoT devices, said the company.

As part of the ITTIA DB embeddable database family, ITTIA DB IoT brings advanced database and stream processing capabilities to microcontroller devices.

With this new release, microcontroller applications embedded with ITTIA DB are capable of ingesting and aggregating data, detecting anomalies, storing information, and making choices in milliseconds. OEMs building gateway devices, industrial systems, software-defined vehicle applications, medical devices, wearables, and other embedded products can seamlessly embed ITTIA DB to locally monitor, store, and manage data in real time.

ITTIA DB IoT can be embedded into Arm Cortex-A, Cortex-M, and Cortex-R architecture devices, different RTOS platform variants, and can be easily ported to support custom environments. 

ITTIA DB IoT’s architecture offers mix-and-match customisation so embedded developers may select to stream real time data, manage time series, and/or store table data. 

Real time data capture and edge analytics are becoming common requirements for edge devices. As microcontroller technology advances, some OEMs seek to first process real-time data, interpret it and then store it while others prefer to store the entire data while footprint and performance play an important role in their design. ITTIA DB IoT 8.8 serves both schools of design. By incorporating ITTIA DB, a microcontroller can transform into a real time data processing platform that responds to event-driven data, as well as support applications that prefer to store the entire data into tables.

Embedded, edge IoT and AI systems demand devices to process data at a massive scale to achieve measurable metrics. ITTIA DB IoT 8.8 streaming and time series functionalities address this kind of demand. OEMs can build applications that respond immediately to events, craft materialised views over streams, and receive real time data from the current state on demand. Time series data ingestion, transformation, analytics, and distribution make microcontrollers compatible with today’s computing world, added ITTIA. 

ITTIA software development lifecycle (SDL) conforms to the principles of IEC/ISO 62443.

https://www.ittia.com

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