Embedded Security Solutions with dsPIC33 DSCs and PIC24 MCUs

Microchip's high-performance dsPIC33C digital signal controllers (DSCs) and low-power PIC24F microcontrollers (MCUs) are combined with their ATECC608 CryptoAuthentication™ and TrustAnchor100 (TA100) CryptoAutomotive™ security ICs to provide robust system-level security. The dsPIC33C DSCs and PIC24F MCUs deliver high performance, low power consumption, and an application-specific feature set for low-power security, sensor interfacing, real-time control, functional safety, digital power conversion, Qi wireless charging, and motor control applications.

Protecting embedded systems with robust security is essential in IoT (Internet of Things), automotive, medical, consumer, wireless, industrial, and other connected designs. Security standards are available and constantly evolving to reinforce the requirements of IoT applications. Many automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are including security in their design specifications to protect electronic control units (ECUs) in connected vehicles from attacks. Markets and applications share similar requirements for security specifications including unique passwords for all devices without default passwords, secure storage to isolate sensitive cryptographic keys, firmware verification at boot to ensure integrity before execution and after software updates, and secure communication between devices or ECUs and the external world.

Users can easily meet design requirements with a range of DSC/MCU devices with features such as Flash OTP by ICSP™ Write Inhibit and CodeGuard™ Flash security. The security features of the PIC24F MCUs and dsPIC33C DSCs protect against remote digital attacks while the CryptoAuthentication and CryptoAutomotive ICs provide extra security with physical anti-tampering and side-channel attack protections to block access to embedded system credentials. Some devices offer integrated true random number generation (TRNG), pseudorandom number generation (PRNG), and an AES-256 accelerator with dedicated key slots.