Securing the Connected Future: Microchip dsPIC33 DSCs Deliver Robust Embedded Security

Welcome to Microchip Insider. In Part 2 in our four-part series on dsPIC33 Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs), we look at how these devices work together with security ICs to implement robust system-level security for embedded systems. In today’s ever-expanding world of IoT, automotive, medical, consumer, wireless industrial and other connected designs, this level of security is no longer a luxury, it’s an absolute necessity.

We understand the evolving security requirements that our customers must support in their design specifications, including unique passwords, secure storage to isolate sensitive cryptographic keys, firmware verification at boot and secure communication between devices or connected-vehicle Electronic Control Units (ECUs) and the external world.

dsPIC33 DSCs bring a unique combination of capabilities for securing embedded applications. These DSCs offer the simplicity of a microcontroller (MCU) with the time-critical response performance of a DSP plus the low-power consumption and application-specific feature set needed to support low-power security. The DSCs can be used with Microchip’s ATECC608 CryptoAuthentication? and TrustAnchor100 (TA100) CryptoAutomotive? security ICs to provide robust security for designs, and are available with an integrated secure subsystem that is compliant with Hardware Security Module (HSM) architecture.

Choosing a DSC

The dsPIC33C DSC family offers dual-core and single-core flexibility, all including features that protect against remote digital attacks. Every dsPIC33C DSC works with Microchip’s CryptoAuthentication and CryptoAutomotive ICs to deliver extra security with physical anti-tampering and side channel attack protections to block access to embedded system credentials.

For even stronger security, the family’s dsPIC33C MPT Secure DSC with integrated HSM offers 100 MHz real-time performance and a rich feature set, making it an excellent option for embedded applications requiring time-critical function execution and fast deterministic response. Its extra protections include immutable secure boot, secure firmware updates with live updates, secure-on-board communication and message authentication to ECU authentication, Wireless Power Consortium 1.3 Qi? high-power wireless charger authentication and flash configurability as One-Time Programmable (OTP) memory. It is compliant with the EVITA Full Specification for automotive security and includes secure key storage, NIST SP800-90 A/B/C Random Number Generator (RNG) and advanced and fast crypto engines supporting ECC, RSA, AES and SHA algorithms.

Learn how to meet your design security requirements, whether they be functional safety compliance, automotive qualification or secure key provisioning here.

Preparing to Secure Your Next Embedded Design

If you’re newer to embedded design security and would like to learn more about how dsPIC33 DSCs and PIC24 MCUs complement Microchip security ICs, below are resources exploring the security features of these products. In these free webinars, you’ll learn about hardware code protection features that function with Microchip’s security ICs, plus how the MPLAB? Code Configurator (MCC) simplifies the implementation of security for your application.

Webinar: ATECC608 Secure Element - “Simplifying Secure Application Designs with dsPIC33/PIC24 and ATECC608 Devices”

Webinar: ATECC608 Secure Element and TA100 External HSM Devices - “Simplifying Secure Application Designs with dsPIC33/PIC24 and ATECC608/TA100 Devices”

See How It’s Been Done Before: ECU Security

The Electronic Control Unit (ECU) architecture in modern connected cars with advanced driver assistance systems are required to support security features and the software framework must adhere to adhere to AUTOSAR standards.?

To see how the high-performance, real-time dsPIC33C DSC works with the TA100 CyrptoAutomotive Security IC to meet requirements both for security and AUTOSAR while also implementing various ECU functions, our application demonstration is a great place to start.

A detailed demo and design files are available upon request here.

Coming up next in our dsPIC33 DSCs series, we’ll dive into how our dsPIC DCS-based integrated motor drivers combine real-time processing with a full-bridge MOSFET gate driver to reduce the board space and costs of designing embedded motor control systems.

To catch up on part one of the series, read it here.

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