Imec, Holst Centre and Barco Silex Collaborate on Data Security for Wearables, IoT Networks

 Imec, Holst Centre and micro-electronic design house Barco Silex, belonging to the Barco group, announced that they will collaborate to implement data security into sensors for wearable devices and Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks.
 
Smart wearables for lifestyle and health monitoring as well as many other personal IoT applications are evolving with new capabilities at a rapid pace. However, trust is key for a broad adoption and the implementation of a true intuitive IoT society, with sensors invisibly embedded everywhere in the environment, measuring all kind of parameters and making smart decisions to support everyday life. The smart society can only become a reality when the sensor technology is trusted by their users and the privacy of the users’ data is guaranteed at all time. Data security for the IoT is therefore considered as one of the main challenges to solve.
 
Current security solutions for IoT are designed for communication within one application domain or network. To realize a higher level of security, novel concepts for authentication, onboarding and end-to-end security in heterogeneous IoT networks are needed.
 
Imec, Holst Centre and Barco Silex’ collaboration aims to leverage the technology and design expertise of imec and Holst Centre with the security IP portfolio of Barco Silex to develop novel chip architectures for secure ultra-low power sensors, and novel security concepts for reliable heterogeneous networks.
 
Barco Silex will deliver the needed embedded security solution including crypto IP blocks to be implemented into imec’s multisensor IC for wearables and imec’s demonstrator platform for IoT. Imec will develop novel compute and memory architectures for minimal overhead of the secure implementation on the overall cost and power consumption of the sensors. I
 
“This collaboration is part of a roadmap on a secure and intuitve IoT. Close collaborations with security experts like Barco Silex, but also with excellent research groups from KULeuven and iMinds will offer the imec ecosystem to develop novel and complete solutions for secure wearables and heterogeneous IoT networks. The program is open for new companies to join us on this exciting journey,” stated Kathleen Philips, program director perceptive systems for an Intuitive IoT at imec.