New middleware for secured reconfigurable real-time systems

Abstract

The paper deals with secured reconfigurable real-time embedded systems that should be adapted to their environment according to user requirements. For various reasons, a reconfiguration scenario is a run-time automatic operation that allows the addition-removal-update of Operating System tasks. These tasks are secured and should meet real-time constraints. In this case, security mechanisms are assumed to be executed to protect them. Nevertheless, when a reconfiguration is applied to add new tasks and their related mechanisms, some deadlines can be violated. We propose a new middleware that constructs a new execution model of the system after reconfiguration scenarios. It proposes to reduce the execution number of mechanisms that share the security of several tasks, or also reduces the security level of others. The middleware is based on a multi-agent model, is composed of Reconfiguration Agent that controls reconfigurations, Security Agent that controls the security of the system, Scheduling Agent that constructs the new execution model, and Execution Agent that applies the new model. The paper’s contribution is implemented and applied to a case study.