In the spring of 2024, the PoQsiKom consortium achieved the project’s third milestone: the public presentation of the project’s use case and demonstrator at the Hannover Messe 2024.
PoQsiKom (left) and IPsecICS (right) demonstrators at the Hannover Messe 2024.
In the project’s use case, the acknowledgment of safety devices for machine tools over the public Internet, cameras attached to a secure and integrated system serve as eyes for a human operator acknowledging the safety of a machine’s operational area from a remote location. The PoQsiKom consortium partners developed a new safety concept based on security. Securing communication for remote acknowledgment is achieved through mutually authenticated and post-quantum-enabled data connections between the operator and the machine’s camera and safety controller.
The project’s demonstrator is centered around a robotic arm, representing the machine, that is enclosed within acrylic glass on three sides and a light curtain on the fourth side, representing the machine’s safety area. The light curtain detects access to the machine’s safety area and halts the movement of the robotic arm. Two cameras mounted on top of the enclosure allow the remote operator to inspect the safety area.
The demonstrator was collaboratively developed by the project partners and constructed at TRUMPF. To implement secure remote acknowledgment of the light curtain, the demonstrator includes an integrated security system necessary for the camera and safety controller to establish a trustworthy connection with the remote operator. The integrated security system, developed by Fraunhofer AISEC, uses a hardened Linux-based operating system, GyroidOS, featuring strict application isolation (sandboxing) and a deep-routed support for secure elements. To ensure future-proof post-quantum-secure communication, TUM contributed an OpenTitan-based trust anchor supporting the post-quantum algorithms Dilithium and Kyber. The integrated security system utilizes the trust anchor via the standardized Generic Trust Anchor (GTA) API provided by Siemens AG. Finally, leveraging these security features, TRUMPF integrated the applications required to implement the new remote acknowledgment concept into the demonstrator: secure streaming of the camera’s video feed, trustworthy data exchange between the smart factory and the remote operator, and a specific data evaluation mechanism to guarantee safety.
The PoQsiKom consortium and its demonstrator were accompanied at the Hannover Messe 2024 by the Korean partner project IPSecICS (www.ipsecics.kr), which demonstrated secure remote operation of machines with their additional demonstrator. This combines secure remote access to local PLC interfaces with a behavioral detection mechanism for malicious PLC commands.
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