• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2023

We propose a method to update DSP (Digital Signal Processor) firmware using USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash drives. The DSP automatically detects USB drives based on an interrupt when the USB drive is inserted into the USB port. The new firmware binary file is found in the mounted USB drive, and the destination address of DSP flash memory is identified for the firmware update writing by investigating the firmware file header. After the new firmware is written to the DSP flash memory, the DSP is reset and rebooted with the newly updated firmware. By employing TI's TMS320F28379D control card with USB ports, we conduct experiments and verify the normal operation of the implemented method.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.15 no.8
• /
• pp.867-875
• /
• 2009

A wireless sensor network inherently comprises a plurality of sensor nodes widely deployed for sensing environmental information. To add new functions or to correct some faulty functions of an existing wireless sensor network, the firmware for each sensor node needs to be updated. Firmware update would be quite troublesome if it requires the gathering, reprogramming, and redeploy of all of already deployed sensor nodes. Over-the-air programming (OTA) facilitates the firmware update process, thereby allowing convenient maintenance of an already-deployed sensor network. This paper proposes and implements a remote firmware update mechanism for a TDMA-based wireless sensor network, in which the firmware for sensor nodes constituting the TDMA-based sensor network can be easily updated and the update process can be conveniently monitored from a remote site. We verify the validity of the proposed firmware update method via experiments and introduce three wireless sensor networks installed in outdoor sites in which the proposed firmware update mechanism has been exploited.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
• /
• v.61 no.1
• /
• pp.155-161
• /
• 2012

The firmware upgrade, which is remotely performed, is an essential function in smart metering or AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure). In other words, the AMI software and firmware can be switched for maintaining and improvement without replacement of H/W devices in AMI environment. Also, if number and type of devices are increase, the demand of remote update service will be increased. Through the firmware upgrade service remotely, the electric power corporation may be able to benefit various fields. For example, there are to adapt more easily in many environments, real-time service and to cut maintenance costs. In this paper, we proposed to design an international level FUMS(Firmware Upgrade Management System) which includes requirement function, architecture and protocol related with DCU, Smart Meter.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2013

In this paper, we design and implement a firmware for low-cost small PCR devices. To minimize machine code size, the proposed firmware controls real-time tasks simultaneously only with support of the hardware interrupt, but without support of the operating system program. The proposed firmware has the host-local structure in which the firmware receives operation commands from PC and sends operation results to PC through usb communication. We implement a low-cost small PCR device with the proposed firmware loaded on microchip PIC18F4550 chip, and verify that the implemented PCR device significantly reduces cost and volume size of existing commercial PCR devices with a similar performance.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.803-808
• /
• 2023

The IoT industry is growing at a record growth rate every year, but developers face practical problems such as security, data storage, and heterogeneity between devices before developing an IoT platform. In particular, heterogeneity between devices occurs due to network type and protocol, and device firmware must be changed or multiple IoT platforms must be used in some cases. In addition, data is wasted due to redundant sensing due to the overflow of indiscriminate IoT devices. In this paper, we propose a device-independent firmware design to solve the heterogeneity between devices in the IoT platform environment where Local WAS uses the MQTT protocol.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.359-368
• /
• 2017

As the BadUSB is a vulnerability, in which a hacker tampers the firmware area of a USB flash drive. When the BadUSB device is plugged into the USB port of a host system, a malicious code acts automatically. The host system misunderstands the act of the malicious behavior as an normal behaviour for booting the USB device, so it is hard to detect the malicious code. Also, an antivirus software can't detect the tampered firmware because it inspects not the firmware area but the storage area. Because a lot of computer peripherals (such as USB flash drive, keyboard) are connected to host system with the USB protocols, the vulnerability has a negative ripple effect. However, the countermeasure against the vulnerability is not known now. In this paper, we analyze the tampered area of the firmware when a normal USB device is changed to the BadUSB device and propose the countermeasure to verify the integrity of the area when the USB boots. The proposed method consists of two procedures. The first procedure is to verify the integrity of the area which should be fixed even if the firmware is updated. The verification method use hashes, and the target area includes descriptors. The second procedure is to verify the integrity of the changeable area when the firmware is updated. The verification method use code signing, and the target area includes the function area of the firmware. We also propose the update protocol for the proposed structure and verify it to be true through simulation.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.301-307
• /
• 2021

In addition to the revival of the Internet of Things, embedded systems, which are at the core of the Internet of Things, require intelligent control as things change. Embedded systems, however, are heavily constrained by resources such as hardware, memory, time and power. When changes are needed to firmware in an embedded system, flash Memory must be initialized and the entire firmware must be uploaded again. Therefore, it is time- and energy-efficient in that areas that do not need to be modified must also be initialized and rewritten. In this paper, we propose how to upload firmware in installments to each sector of flash memory so that only firmware can be replace the firmware in the parts that need to be modified when the firmware needs to be modified. In this paper, the proposed method was evaluated using real target board, and as a result, the time was reduced by about half.

• 유공압시스템학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.56-61
• /
• 2010

Simulator is a development equipment which enables the ECU to operate in normal mode by simulating the interface signal between ECU and mechanical system electrically. Embedded simulator means simulation function is embedded in ECU firmware, hence the electrical signal interface is replaced by the substitution of information at system program level. This paper explains the development of embedded transmission simulator for the verification of TCU firmware function which covers shifting control and on-board diagnosis. The embedded simulation program is executed in TCU processor along with the TCU firmware and it provides TCU firmware with not only the speed information those are appropriate both in driving and shifting conditions, but also the fault detection signals. Experimental results show that the validity of embedded simulator and its usefulness to the TCU firmware development and verification.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
• /
• v.32 no.6
• /
• pp.1121-1125
• /
• 2022

HAL-Fuzz, a fuzzing technique to find firmware vulnerabilities, is efficient by using the HAL function of the hardware abstraction layer provided by MCU vendors. However, it cannot handle most firmware that unused the exact HAL function. In this paper, we propose a new method for identifying pseudo-HAL functions to increase the fuzzing availability of HAL-Fuzz. In experiments, we identified not only the HAL but also the pseudo-HAL functions, implemented by the developer, and that fuzzing is possible.

• Journal of Drive and Control
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.17-26
• /
• 2023

A forklift is an industrial vehicle that lifts or transports heavy objects using a hydraulically operated fork, and is equipped with an automatic transmission for the convenience of repetitive transportation, loading, and unloading work. The Transmission Control Unit (TCU) is a key component in charge of the shift control function of an automatic transmission. It consists of an electric circuit with an input/output signal interface function and firmware running on a microcontroller. To develop TCU firmware, the development process of shifting algorithm design, firmware programming, verification test, and performance improvement must be repeated. A simulator is a device that simulates a mechanical system having dynamic characteristics in real time and simulates various sensor signals installed in the system. The embedded transmission simulator is a simulator that is embedded in the TCU firmware. information related to the mechanical system that is necessary for TCU normal operation. In this study, an embedded transmission simulator applied to the originally developed forklift TCU firmware was designed and used to verify various forklift shift control algorithms.