Towards a trustworthy, lightweight cloud computing framework for embedded systems

Abstract

Embedded systems are gradually evolving into alternatives to desktop and server systems in terms of performance, energy- and cost efficiency. Moreover, with the improvement of their performance and storage capabilities, they are about to enter the domain of desktop systems and cloud computing. However, the question remains whether such systems can be used in cloud computing scenarios in a secure and energy efficient way or not and, if this is not the case, how do they have to be enhanced and which components are missing. In this paper, we present an approach to how cloud computing can be realized securely on embedded systems by means of embedded Trusted Computing. We provide a reference design of a micro-data-center and present an analysis covering the topics of performance, security as well as energy consumption. Moreover, we discuss our concept for a light-weight virtualization framework which is specifically tailored to the requirements of embedded systems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.