Towards a Flexible and Secure Runtime for Embedded Devices

Advancing towards the Internet of Things, a need for bigger connectivity between every time smaller embedded devices is foreseen. In the near future, heterogeneous resource-restricted devices will probably have a set of services with a strong need for connection. Two needs are envisioned as mandatory: flexibility and security. There is firstly a need for some degree of isolation between services but there is also a need for services to be able to have their runtime altered without having to stop the whole platform. This generates a clash of interests and needs, since achieving both flexibility and security balanced is apparently incompatible. The purpose of this article is to explain the needs and requirements that such systems will most surely have, as well as inspiring technologies and related works, in order to advance towards a platform with flexible and secure services that will add bigger capabilities to the devices.