Automotive Smart-Node Authentication Using Sequential Scrambled Codes
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Solution Overview
Problem
The evolution of automotive electrical and electronic architectures towards zone-oriented networks increases the risk of malicious attacks on vehicle communication networks, particularly in network-driven systems where smart nodes lack microcontroller units, necessitating improved security mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a security layer within smart nodes using a cryptographic key-based protocol involving a sequential code generation and scrambling process to authenticate communication requests, ensuring only legitimate devices gain access to functional registers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If zone-oriented network architecture is implemented to reduce TCO and simplify E/E system, then device complexity and harness cost are reduced, but security vulnerability increases due to network-driven operation of smart nodes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary security actions by generating authentication codes and cryptographic keys before communication occurs. The security layer pre-generates sequential codes and scrambles them with cryptographic keys stored in non-volatile memory, establishing security credentials in advance to prevent unauthorized access during network operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a security layer as an intermediary between the smart node devices and the communication network. This security layer acts as a mediator that intercepts and authenticates all communication requests, verifying cryptographic codes before allowing access to functional registers, thus protecting the network-driven architecture without adding physical complexity.
2Reliability
If security layer is added to smart nodes for authentication, then network security is improved, but device area and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cryptographic key storage and code generation functions into dedicated security layer components separate from the main smart node processing units. By isolating these security-critical functions in dedicated hardware blocks with non-volatile memory, the design reduces the power consumption burden on the main processor while maintaining robust security authentication capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A responder receives a request message from a commander, generates a first code of a sequence of codes, scrambles the first code with a cryptographic key fetched from its non-volatile memory to generate a corresponding first scrambled code, sends a response message including the first scrambled code, and generates a subsequent code of the sequence of codes as a function of the first code. The commander receives the response message, de-scrambles the first scrambled code with the cryptographic key fetched from its non-volatile memory to generate a corresponding first unscrambled code, generates a subsequent unscrambled code as a function of the first unscrambled code, and sends a further message including the subsequent unscrambled code to the responder. The responder compares the subsequent unscrambled code to the subsequent code. If the subsequent unscrambled and subsequent codes are equal, the commander gets access to the functional registers of the responder.