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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
The increase in computing power has simultaneously increased the demand for input/output (I/O) bandwidth. Unfortunately, the speed of I/O and memory interconnects have not kept pace. Thus, processor-based systems are I/O and interconnect limited. The memory aggregated bandwidth is not scaling fast enough to keep up with increasing bandwidth demands. The term "memory wall" has been coined to describe this phenomenon.
A new memory bus concept that has the potential to push double data rate (DDR) memory speed to 30 Gbit/s is presented. We propose to map the conventional DDR bus to a microwave link using a multicarrier frequency division multiplexing scheme. The memory bus is formed using a microwave signal carried within a waveguide. We call this approach multicarrier memory channel architecture (MCMCA). In MCMCA, each memory signal is modulated onto an RF carrier using 64-QAM format or higher. The carriers are then routed using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) interconnects. At the receiver, the memory signals are demodulated and then delivered to SDRAM devices. We pioneered the usage of SIW as memory channel interconnects and demonstrated that it alleviates the memory bandwidth bottleneck. We demonstrated SIW performance superiority over conventional transmission line in immunity to cross-talk and electromagnetic interference. We developed a methodology based on design of experiment (DOE) and response surface method techniques that optimizes the design of SIW interconnects and minimizes its performance fluctuations under material and manufacturing variations. Along with using SIW, we implemented a multicarrier architecture which enabled the aggregated DDR bandwidth to reach 30 Gbit/s. We developed an end-to-end system model in Simulink and demonstrated the MCMCA performance for ultra-high throughput memory channel.
Experimental characterization of the new channel shows that by using judicious frequency division multiplexing, as few as one SIW interconnect is sufficient to transmit the 64 DDR bits. Overall aggregated bus data rate achieves 240 GBytes/s data transfer with EVM not exceeding 2.26% and phase error of 1.07 degree or less.
A new memory bus concept that has the potential to push double data rate (DDR) memory speed to 30 Gbit/s is presented. We propose to map the conventional DDR bus to a microwave link using a multicarrier frequency division multiplexing scheme. The memory bus is formed using a microwave signal carried within a waveguide. We call this approach multicarrier memory channel architecture (MCMCA). In MCMCA, each memory signal is modulated onto an RF carrier using 64-QAM format or higher. The carriers are then routed using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) interconnects. At the receiver, the memory signals are demodulated and then delivered to SDRAM devices. We pioneered the usage of SIW as memory channel interconnects and demonstrated that it alleviates the memory bandwidth bottleneck. We demonstrated SIW performance superiority over conventional transmission line in immunity to cross-talk and electromagnetic interference. We developed a methodology based on design of experiment (DOE) and response surface method techniques that optimizes the design of SIW interconnects and minimizes its performance fluctuations under material and manufacturing variations. Along with using SIW, we implemented a multicarrier architecture which enabled the aggregated DDR bandwidth to reach 30 Gbit/s. We developed an end-to-end system model in Simulink and demonstrated the MCMCA performance for ultra-high throughput memory channel.
Experimental characterization of the new channel shows that by using judicious frequency division multiplexing, as few as one SIW interconnect is sufficient to transmit the 64 DDR bits. Overall aggregated bus data rate achieves 240 GBytes/s data transfer with EVM not exceeding 2.26% and phase error of 1.07 degree or less.
ContributorsBensalem, Brahim (Author) / Aberle, James T. (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Tirkas, Panayiotis A. (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
There is an ever-increasing demand for higher bandwidth and data rate ensuing from exploding number of radio frequency integrated systems and devices. As stated in the Shannon-Hartley theorem, the maximum achievable data rate of a communication channel is linearly proportional to the system bandwidth. This is the main driving force behind pushing wireless systems towards millimeter-wave frequency range, where larger bandwidth is available at a higher carrier frequency. Observing the Moor’s law, highly scaled complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technologies provide fast transistors with a high unity power gain frequency which enables operating at millimeter-wave frequency range. CMOS is the compelling choice for digital and signal processing modules which concurrently offers high computation speed, low power consumption, and mass integration at a high manufacturing yield. One of the main shortcomings of the sub-micron CMOS technologies is the low breakdown voltage of the transistors that limits the dynamic range of the radio frequency (RF) power blocks, especially with the power amplifiers. Low voltage swing restricts the achievable output power which translates into low signal to noise ratio and degraded linearity. Extensive research has been done on proposing new design and IC fabrication techniques with the goal of generating higher output power in CMOS technology. The prominent drawbacks of these solutions are an increased die area, higher cost per design, and lower overall efficiency due to lossy passive components. In this dissertation, CMOS compatible metal–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFETs) are utilized to put forward a new solution to enhance the power amplifier’s breakdown voltage, gain and maximum output power. Requiring no change to the conventional CMOS process flow, this low cost approach allows direct incorporation of high voltage power MESFETs into silicon. High voltage MESFETs were employed in a cascode structure to push the amplifier’s cutoff frequency and unity power gain frequency to the 5G and K-band frequency range. This dissertation begins with CMOS compatible MESFET modeling and fabrication steps, and culminates in the discussion of amplifier design and optimization methodology, parasitic de-embedding steps, simulation and measurement results, and high resistivity RF substrate characterization.
ContributorsHabibiMehr, Payam (Author) / Thornton, Trevor John (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Formicone, Gabriele (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
First, in a large-scale structure, a 3-D CFD model was built to simulate flow and temperature distributions. The flow patterns and temperature distributions are characterized and validated through spot measurements. The detailed understanding of them then allows for optimization of the HVAC configuration because identification of the problematic flow patterns and temperature mis-distributions leads to some corrective measures. Second, an appropriate form of the viscous dissipation term in the integral form of the conservation equation was considered, and the effects of momentum terms on the computed drop size in pressure-atomized sprays were examined. The Sauter mean diameter (SMD) calculated in this manner agrees well with experimental data of the drop velocities and sizes. Using the suggested equation with the revised treatment of liquid momentum setup, injection parameters can be directly input to the system of equations. Thus, this approach is capable of incorporating the effects of injection parameters for further considerations of the drop and velocity distributions under a wide range of spray geometry and injection conditions. Lastly, groundwater level estimation was investigated using compressed sensing (CS). To satisfy a general property of CS, a random measurement matrix was used, the groundwater network was constructed, and finally the l-1 optimization was run. Through several validation tests, correct estimation of groundwater level by CS was shown. Using this setup, decreasing trends in groundwater level in the southwestern US was shown. The suggested method is effective in that the total measurements of registered wells can be reduced down by approximately 42 %, sparse data can be visualized and a possible approach for groundwater management during extreme weather changes, e.g. in California, was demonstrated.
ContributorsLee, Joon Young (Author) / Lee, Taewoo (Thesis advisor) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Lopez, Juan (Committee member) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Chen, Kangping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The proposed research mainly focuses on employing tunable materials to achieve dynamic control of radiative heat transfer in both far and near fields for thermal management. Vanadium dioxide (VO2), which undergoes a phase transition from insulator to metal at the temperature of 341 K, is one tunable material being applied. The other one is graphene, whose optical properties can be tuned by chemical potential through external bias or chemical doping.
In the far field, a VO2-based metamaterial thermal emitter with switchable emittance in the mid-infrared has been theoretically studied. When VO2 is in the insulating phase, high emittance is observed at the resonance frequency of magnetic polaritons (MPs), while the structure becomes highly reflective when VO2 turns metallic. A VO2-based thermal emitter with tunable emittance is also demonstrated due to the excitation of MP at different resonance frequencies when VO2 changes phase. Moreover, an infrared thermal emitter made of graphene-covered SiC grating could achieve frequency-tunable emittance peak via the change of the graphene chemical potential.
In the near field, a radiation-based thermal rectifier is constructed by investigating radiative transfer between VO2 and SiO2 separated by nanometer vacuum gap distances. Compared to the case where VO2 is set as the emitter at 400 K as a metal, when VO2 is considered as the receiver at 300 K as an insulator, the energy transfer is greatly enhanced due to the strong surface phonon polariton (SPhP) coupling between insulating VO2 and SiO2. A radiation-based thermal switch is also explored by setting VO2 as both the emitter and the receiver. When both VO2 emitter and receiver are at the insulating phase, the switch is at the “on” mode with a much enhanced heat flux due to strong SPhP coupling, while the near-field radiative transfer is greatly suppressed when the emitting VO2 becomes metallic at temperatures higher than 341K during the “off” mode. In addition, an electrically-gated thermal modulator made of graphene covered SiC plates is theoretically studied with modulated radiative transport by varying graphene chemical potential. Moreover, the MP effect on near-field radiative transport has been investigated by spectrally enhancing radiative heat transfer between two metal gratings.
In the far field, a VO2-based metamaterial thermal emitter with switchable emittance in the mid-infrared has been theoretically studied. When VO2 is in the insulating phase, high emittance is observed at the resonance frequency of magnetic polaritons (MPs), while the structure becomes highly reflective when VO2 turns metallic. A VO2-based thermal emitter with tunable emittance is also demonstrated due to the excitation of MP at different resonance frequencies when VO2 changes phase. Moreover, an infrared thermal emitter made of graphene-covered SiC grating could achieve frequency-tunable emittance peak via the change of the graphene chemical potential.
In the near field, a radiation-based thermal rectifier is constructed by investigating radiative transfer between VO2 and SiO2 separated by nanometer vacuum gap distances. Compared to the case where VO2 is set as the emitter at 400 K as a metal, when VO2 is considered as the receiver at 300 K as an insulator, the energy transfer is greatly enhanced due to the strong surface phonon polariton (SPhP) coupling between insulating VO2 and SiO2. A radiation-based thermal switch is also explored by setting VO2 as both the emitter and the receiver. When both VO2 emitter and receiver are at the insulating phase, the switch is at the “on” mode with a much enhanced heat flux due to strong SPhP coupling, while the near-field radiative transfer is greatly suppressed when the emitting VO2 becomes metallic at temperatures higher than 341K during the “off” mode. In addition, an electrically-gated thermal modulator made of graphene covered SiC plates is theoretically studied with modulated radiative transport by varying graphene chemical potential. Moreover, the MP effect on near-field radiative transport has been investigated by spectrally enhancing radiative heat transfer between two metal gratings.
ContributorsYang, Yue (Author) / Wang, Liping (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Wang, Robert (Committee member) / Tongay, Sefaattin (Committee member) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
As wireless communication enters smartphone era, more complicated communication technologies are being used to transmit higher data rate. Power amplifier (PA) has to work in back-off region, while this inevitably reduces battery life for cellphones. Various techniques have been reported to increase PA efficiency, such as envelope elimination and restoration (EER) and envelope tracking (ET). However, state of the art ET supply modulators failed to address high efficiency, high slew rate, and accurate tracking concurrently.
In this dissertation, a linear-switch mode hybrid ET supply modulator utilizing adaptive biasing and gain enhanced current mirror operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with class-AB output stage in parallel with a switching regulator is presented. In comparison to a conventional OTA design with similar quiescent current consumption, proposed approach improves positive and negative slew rate from 50 V/µs to 93.4 V/µs and -87 V/µs to -152.5 V/µs respectively, dc gain from 45 dB to 67 dB while consuming same amount of quiescent current. The proposed hybrid supply modulator achieves 83% peak efficiency, power added efficiency (PAE) of 42.3% at 26.2 dBm for a 10 MHz 7.24 dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) LTE signal and improves PAE by 8% at 6 dB back off from 26.2 dBm power amplifier (PA) output power with respect to fixed supply. With a 10 MHz 7.24 dB PAPR QPSK LTE signal the ET PA system achieves adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of -37.7 dBc and error vector magnitude (EVM) of 4.5% at 26.2 dBm PA output power, while with a 10 MHz 8.15 dB PAPR 64QAM LTE signal the ET PA system achieves ACLR of -35.6 dBc and EVM of 6% at 26 dBm PA output power without digital pre-distortion (DPD). The proposed supply modulator core circuit occupies 1.1 mm2 die area, and is fabricated in a 0.18 µm CMOS technology.
In this dissertation, a linear-switch mode hybrid ET supply modulator utilizing adaptive biasing and gain enhanced current mirror operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with class-AB output stage in parallel with a switching regulator is presented. In comparison to a conventional OTA design with similar quiescent current consumption, proposed approach improves positive and negative slew rate from 50 V/µs to 93.4 V/µs and -87 V/µs to -152.5 V/µs respectively, dc gain from 45 dB to 67 dB while consuming same amount of quiescent current. The proposed hybrid supply modulator achieves 83% peak efficiency, power added efficiency (PAE) of 42.3% at 26.2 dBm for a 10 MHz 7.24 dB peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) LTE signal and improves PAE by 8% at 6 dB back off from 26.2 dBm power amplifier (PA) output power with respect to fixed supply. With a 10 MHz 7.24 dB PAPR QPSK LTE signal the ET PA system achieves adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) of -37.7 dBc and error vector magnitude (EVM) of 4.5% at 26.2 dBm PA output power, while with a 10 MHz 8.15 dB PAPR 64QAM LTE signal the ET PA system achieves ACLR of -35.6 dBc and EVM of 6% at 26 dBm PA output power without digital pre-distortion (DPD). The proposed supply modulator core circuit occupies 1.1 mm2 die area, and is fabricated in a 0.18 µm CMOS technology.
ContributorsJing, Yue (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Song, Hongjiang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Video capture, storage, and distribution in wireless video sensor networks
(WVSNs) critically depends on the resources of the nodes forming the sensor
networks. In the era of big data, Internet of Things (IoT), and distributed
demand and solutions, there is a need for multi-dimensional data to be part of
the Sensor Network data that is easily accessible and consumable by humanity as
well as machinery. Images and video are expected to become as ubiquitous as is
the scalar data in traditional sensor networks. The inception of video-streaming
over the Internet, heralded a relentless research for effective ways of
distributing video in a scalable and cost effective way. There has been novel
implementation attempts across several network layers. Due to the inherent
complications of backward compatibility and need for standardization across
network layers, there has been a refocused attention to address most of the
video distribution over the application layer. As a result, a few video
streaming solutions over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) have been
proposed. Most notable are Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and the Motion
Picture Experts Groups Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH). These
frameworks, do not address the typical and future WVSN use cases. A highly
flexible Wireless Video Sensor Network Platform and compatible DASH (WVSNP-DASH)
are introduced. The platform's goal is to usher video as a data element that
can be integrated into traditional and non-Internet networks. A low cost,
scalable node is built from the ground up to be fully compatible with the
Internet of Things Machine to Machine (M2M) concept, as well as the ability to
be easily re-targeted to new applications in a short time. Flexi-WVSNP design
includes a multi-radio node, a middle-ware for sensor operation and
communication, a cross platform client facing data retriever/player framework,
scalable security as well as a cohesive but decoupled hardware and software
design.
(WVSNs) critically depends on the resources of the nodes forming the sensor
networks. In the era of big data, Internet of Things (IoT), and distributed
demand and solutions, there is a need for multi-dimensional data to be part of
the Sensor Network data that is easily accessible and consumable by humanity as
well as machinery. Images and video are expected to become as ubiquitous as is
the scalar data in traditional sensor networks. The inception of video-streaming
over the Internet, heralded a relentless research for effective ways of
distributing video in a scalable and cost effective way. There has been novel
implementation attempts across several network layers. Due to the inherent
complications of backward compatibility and need for standardization across
network layers, there has been a refocused attention to address most of the
video distribution over the application layer. As a result, a few video
streaming solutions over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) have been
proposed. Most notable are Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and the Motion
Picture Experts Groups Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH). These
frameworks, do not address the typical and future WVSN use cases. A highly
flexible Wireless Video Sensor Network Platform and compatible DASH (WVSNP-DASH)
are introduced. The platform's goal is to usher video as a data element that
can be integrated into traditional and non-Internet networks. A low cost,
scalable node is built from the ground up to be fully compatible with the
Internet of Things Machine to Machine (M2M) concept, as well as the ability to
be easily re-targeted to new applications in a short time. Flexi-WVSNP design
includes a multi-radio node, a middle-ware for sensor operation and
communication, a cross platform client facing data retriever/player framework,
scalable security as well as a cohesive but decoupled hardware and software
design.
ContributorsSeema, Adolph (Author) / Reisslein, Martin (Thesis advisor) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Seeling, Patrick (Committee member) / Zhang, Yanchao (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
District heating plays an important role in improving energy efficiency and providing thermal heat to buildings. Instead of using water as an energy carrier to transport sensible heat, this dissertation explores the use of liquid-phase thermochemical reactions for district heating as well as thermal storage. Chapters 2 and 3 present thermodynamic and design analyses for the proposed district heating system. Chapter 4 models the use of liquid-phase thermochemical reactions for on-site solar thermal storage. In brief, the proposed district heating system uses liquid-phase thermochemical reactions to transport thermal energy from a heat source to a heat sink. The separation ensures that the stored thermochemical heat can be stored indefinitely and/or transported long distances. The reactant molecules are then pumped over long distances to the heat sink, where they are combined in an exothermic reaction to provide heat. The product of the exothermic reaction is then pumped back to the heat source for re-use. The key evaluation parameter is the system efficiency.
The results demonstrate that with heat recovery, the system efficiency can be up to 77% when the sink temperature equals 25 C. The results also indicate that the appropriate chemical reaction candidates should have large reaction enthalpy and small reaction entropy. Further, the design analyses of two district heating systems, Direct District Heating (DDH) system and Indirect District Heating (IDH) system using the solvated case shows that the critical distance is 106m. When the distance is shorter than 1000,000m, the factors related to the chemical reaction at the user side and factors related to the separation process are important for the DDH system. When the distance is longer than 106m, the factors related to the fluid mechanic become more important. Because the substation of the IDH system degrades the quality of the energy, when the distance is shorter than 106m, the efficiency of the substation is significant. Lastly, I create models for on-site solar thermal storage systems using liquid-phase thermochemical reactions and hot water. The analysis shows that the thermochemical reaction is more competitive for long-duration storage applications. However, the heat recovery added to the thermochemical thermal storage system cannot help improving solar radiation absorption with high inlet temperature of the solar panel.
ContributorsZhang, Yanan (Author) / Wang, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Milcarek, Ryan (Committee member) / Parrish, Kristen (Committee member) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The applications utilizing nanoparticles have grown in both industrial and academic areas because of the very large surface area to volume ratios of these particles. One of the best ways to process and control these nanoparticles is fluidization. In this work, a new microjet and vibration assisted (MVA) fluidized bed system was developed in order to fluidize nanoparticles. The system was tested and the parameters optimized using two commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles: P25 and P90. The fluidization quality was assessed by determining the non-dimensional bed height as well as the non-dimensional pressure drop. The non-dimensional bed height for the nanosized TiO2 in the MVA system optimized at about 5 and 7 for P25 and P90 TiO2, respectively, at a resonance frequency of 50 Hz. The non-dimensional pressure drop was also determined and showed that the MVA system exhibited a lower minimum fluidization velocity for both of the TiO2 types as compared to fluidization that employed only vibration assistance. Additional experiments were performed with the MVA to characterize the synergistic effects of vibrational intensity and gas velocity on the TiO2 P25 and P90 fluidized bed heights. Mathematical relationships were developed to correlate vibrational intensity, gas velocity, and fluidized bed height in the MVA. The non-dimensional bed height in the MVA system is comparable to previously published P25 TiO2 fluidization work that employed an alcohol in order to minimize the electrostatic attractions within the bed. However, the MVA system achieved similar results without the addition of a chemical, thereby expanding the potential chemical reaction engineering and environmental remediation opportunities for fluidized nanoparticle systems.
In order to aid future scaling up of the MVA process, the agglomerate size distribution in the MVA system was predicted by utilizing a force balance model coupled with a two-fluid model (TFM) simulation. The particle agglomerate size that was predicted using the computer simulation was validated with experimental data and found to be in good agreement.
Lastly, in order to demonstrate the utility of the MVA system in an air revitalization application, the capture of CO2 was examined. CO2 breakthrough time and adsorption capacities were tested in the MVA system and compared to a vibrating fluidized bed (VFB) system. Experimental results showed that the improved fluidity in the MVA system enhanced CO2 adsorption capacity.
In order to aid future scaling up of the MVA process, the agglomerate size distribution in the MVA system was predicted by utilizing a force balance model coupled with a two-fluid model (TFM) simulation. The particle agglomerate size that was predicted using the computer simulation was validated with experimental data and found to be in good agreement.
Lastly, in order to demonstrate the utility of the MVA system in an air revitalization application, the capture of CO2 was examined. CO2 breakthrough time and adsorption capacities were tested in the MVA system and compared to a vibrating fluidized bed (VFB) system. Experimental results showed that the improved fluidity in the MVA system enhanced CO2 adsorption capacity.
ContributorsAn, Keju (Author) / Andino, Jean (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Thesis advisor) / Adrian, Ronald (Committee member) / Emady, Heather (Committee member) / Kasbaoui, Mohamed (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Deformable heat exchangers could provide a multitude of previously untapped advantages ranging from adaptable performance via macroscale, dynamic shape change (akin to dilation/constriction seen in blood vessels) to enhanced heat transfer at thermal interfaces through microscale, surface deformations. So far, making deformable, ‘soft heat exchangers’ (SHXs) has been limited by the low thermal conductivity of materials with suitable mechanical properties. The recent introduction of liquid-metal embedded elastomers by Bartlett et al1 has addressed this need. Specifically, by remaining soft and stretchable despite the addition of filler, these thermally conductive composites provide an ideal material for the new class of “soft thermal systems”, which is introduced in this work. Understanding such thermal systems will be a key element in enabling technology that require high levels of stretchability, such as thermoregulatory garments, soft electronics, wearable electronics, and high-powered robotics. Shape change inherent to SHX operation has the potential to violate many conventional assumptions used in HX design and thus requires the development of new theoretical approaches to predict performance. To create a basis for understanding these devices, this work highlights two sequential studies. First, the effects of transitioning to a surface deformable, SHX under steady state static conditions in the setting of a liquid cooling device for thermoregulation, electronics and robotics applications was explored. In this study, a thermomechanical model was built and validated to predict the thermal performance and a system wide analysis to optimize such devices was carried out. Second, from a more fundamental perspective, the effects of SHXs undergoing transient shape deformation during operation was explored. A phase shift phenomenon in cooling performance dependent on stretch rate, stretch extent and thermal diffusivity was discovered and explained. With the use of a time scale analysis, the extent of quasi-static assumption viability in modeling such systems was quantified and multiple shape modulation regime limits were defined. Finally, nuance considerations and future work of using liquid metal-silicone composites in SHXs were discussed.
ContributorsKotagama, Praveen (Author) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Robert (Committee member) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Herrmann, Marcus (Committee member) / Green, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The manufacturing process for electronic systems involves many players, from chip/board design and fabrication to firmware design and installation.
In today's global supply chain, any of these steps are prone to interference from rogue players, creating a security risk.
Manufactured devices need to be verified to perform only their intended operations since it is not economically feasible to control the supply chain and use only trusted facilities.
It is becoming increasingly necessary to trust but verify the received devices both at production and in the field.
Unauthorized hardware or firmware modifications, known as Trojans,
can steal information, drain the battery, or damage battery-driven embedded systems and lightweight Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Since Trojans may be triggered in the field at an unknown instance,
it is essential to detect their presence at run-time.
However, it isn't easy to run sophisticated detection algorithms on these devices
due to limited computational power and energy, and in some cases, lack of accessibility.
Since finding a trusted sample is infeasible in general, the proposed technique is based on self-referencing to remove any effect of environmental or device-to-device variations in the frequency domain.
In particular, the self-referencing is achieved by exploiting the band-limited nature of Trojan activity using signal detection theory.
When the device enters the test mode, a predefined test application is run on the device
repetitively for a known period. The periodicity ensures that the spectral electromagnetic power of the test application concentrates at known frequencies, leaving the remaining frequencies within the operating bandwidth at the noise level. Any deviations from the noise level for these unoccupied frequency locations indicate the presence of unknown (unauthorized) activity. Hence, the malicious activity can differentiate without using a golden reference or any knowledge of the Trojan activity attributes.
The proposed technique's effectiveness is demonstrated through experiments with collecting and processing side-channel signals, such as involuntarily electromagnetic emissions and power consumption, of a wearable electronics prototype and commercial system-on-chip under a variety of practical scenarios.
In today's global supply chain, any of these steps are prone to interference from rogue players, creating a security risk.
Manufactured devices need to be verified to perform only their intended operations since it is not economically feasible to control the supply chain and use only trusted facilities.
It is becoming increasingly necessary to trust but verify the received devices both at production and in the field.
Unauthorized hardware or firmware modifications, known as Trojans,
can steal information, drain the battery, or damage battery-driven embedded systems and lightweight Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Since Trojans may be triggered in the field at an unknown instance,
it is essential to detect their presence at run-time.
However, it isn't easy to run sophisticated detection algorithms on these devices
due to limited computational power and energy, and in some cases, lack of accessibility.
Since finding a trusted sample is infeasible in general, the proposed technique is based on self-referencing to remove any effect of environmental or device-to-device variations in the frequency domain.
In particular, the self-referencing is achieved by exploiting the band-limited nature of Trojan activity using signal detection theory.
When the device enters the test mode, a predefined test application is run on the device
repetitively for a known period. The periodicity ensures that the spectral electromagnetic power of the test application concentrates at known frequencies, leaving the remaining frequencies within the operating bandwidth at the noise level. Any deviations from the noise level for these unoccupied frequency locations indicate the presence of unknown (unauthorized) activity. Hence, the malicious activity can differentiate without using a golden reference or any knowledge of the Trojan activity attributes.
The proposed technique's effectiveness is demonstrated through experiments with collecting and processing side-channel signals, such as involuntarily electromagnetic emissions and power consumption, of a wearable electronics prototype and commercial system-on-chip under a variety of practical scenarios.
ContributorsKarabacak, Fatih (Author) / Ozev, Sule (Thesis advisor) / Ogras, Umit Y. (Thesis advisor) / Christen, Jennifer Blain (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020