A Secure System Architecture for Measuring Instruments in Legal Metrology

Abstract

Embedded systems show the tendency of becoming more and more connected. This fact combined with the trend towards the Internet of Things, from which measuring instruments are not immune (e.g., smart meters), lets one assume that security in measuring instruments will inevitably play an important role soon. Additionally, measuring instruments have adopted general-purpose operating systems to offer the user a broader functionality that is not necessarily restricted towards measurement alone. In this paper, a flexible software system architecture is presented that addresses these challenges within the framework of essential requirements laid down in the Measuring Instruments Directive of the European Union. This system architecture tries to eliminate the risks general-purpose operating systems have by wrapping them, together with dedicated applications, in secure sandboxes, while supervising the communication between the essential parts and the outside world.

Secure Cloud Reference Architectures for Measuring Instruments under Legal Control

“…In this paper a brief overview of the special field of legal metrology and its unique requirements for measuring instruments were given. The authors took the foundation of Daniel Peters' previous work (Peters et al, 2015) which already fulfills most requirements of the MID and the WELMEC 7.2 Software Guide. It was the initial work in the field of virtualization in legal metrology.…”

Testing of measurement instrument software with the purpose of conformity assessment

“…The works [12][13][14][15][16][17] consider the issues of security, risk assessment and current threats associated with the application of MI software, including those that are integrated into open networks. These studies focus on methods that take into account the requirements of regional guidelines [4,5] and international standards.…”

“…These studies focus on methods that take into account the requirements of regional guidelines [4,5] and international standards. However, [12][13][14][15][16] does not take into account the requirements of the international document [1], the possibility of using the software for local MI, and the provisions set out in [17] apply only to intelligent measurement systems.…”

Cloud Computing in Legal Metrology

“…The suggested architecture, which can be deployed by the manufacturer in cooperation with the cloud provider, scales well with the legal requirements, and enforces security by virtualization. In Figure 9, the approach from [24] can be seen, but it is here adapted to the requirements for cloud systems.…”

“…An example is given in [24] that uses a separation kernel and virtualized compartments but in a single measuring instrument not in a cloud. By doing so the usual requirements on the operating system apply [25], [26].…”