3G chips come armed with security
Published: 15 Oct 2003 15:00 BST
Because cellphones are increasingly being used in the same ways as computers, chip designer ARM has moved toward increased security and scaled-down power consumption.
The chip designer has released a new microprocessor blueprint this week at the Microprocessor Forum that includes TrustZone, which is a security technology that prevents hacks and curbs viruses; and Intelligent Energy Manager (IEM), which slows the processor when not in use to conserve battery power.
The chip design -- called ARM 1176JZ -- is designed for 3G phones, which are being increasingly used to swap files on the Internet and perform other functions usually associated with desktops, said Simon Segars, executive vice president of engineering at ARM.
"People aren't downloading much into their phones at the moment, but carriers are worried that someone could download something that could take down the entire network," he said. "Downloading music is another issue."
TrustZone in many ways functions like Microsoft’s pending Next Generation Secure Computing Platform (NGSCP), formerly known as Palladium. Roughly, TrustZone creates secure areas inside a phone that protect sensitive data or applications. Selected data, such as credit card numbers, are encrypted and can only be accessed, ideally, by the owners or trusted third parties. Likewise, viruses downloaded from the Internet can’t enter secure areas inside the phone.
Like NGSCP, TrustZone can also be used by content providers to curb or prevent copying, Segars stated.
Cellphone makers and network operators have been asking for greater security, Segars said. ARM technically doesn’t sell products to carriers, but it is involved in the process because of its role in the cellphone industry. Over half of the world's cellphones use chips that are based on designs from ARM. (ARM doesn’t make chips; it licenses the design to companies such as Motorola and Intel).
In addition to chipmakers, ARM is working with major operating systems manufacturers such as Microsoft and Symbian, and cellphone manufacturers, to make sure the technology is adopted.
But 3G networks are also creating battery headaches. Consumers are used to extensive battery life on cellphones: tens of hours of talk time from a single charge and a hundred hours of standby time are now expected. 3G phones change that. In Britain, for example, one of the first 3G phones was shipped with a spare battery.
"The computing overhead to do 3G is massive," said John Cornish, director of product marketing. "People expect colour screens, fancy user interfaces and all that… You can’t just tweak the transistors anymore."
Among the power-saving techniques, IEM examines code coming into a processor and determines whether the processor speed needs to be increased, which would mean an increase in energy consumption, or whether it can be slowed. IEM also comes with a sleep mode that allows a cellphone to go dormant without wiping out the data in active memory.
Additionally, ARM released a draft of its 1156T2 design -- for chips to run hard drives and other so-called embedded applications. The chip design contains the Thumb 2 instructions for efficiently processing basic tasks.
The ARM 1176JZ core will be released to manufacturers in the second quarter of next year. The release of a design's plan from ARM typically precedes market entry by about a year to 18 months.
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