Securing IoT, new MCUs offer low power consumption

To address the growing need for security in Internet of Things (IoT) environment, the new SAM L10 and SAM L11 MCU families are now available from Microchip Technology Inc. The new MCU families are based on the Arm Cortex-M23 core, with the SAM L11 featuring Arm TrustZone for Armv8-M, a programmable environment that provides hardware isolation between certified libraries, IP and application code.
Microchip enables robust security by including chip-level tamper resistance, secure boot and secure key storage that, when combined with TrustZone technology, protects customer applications from both remote and physical attacks.
Both MCU families offer the industry’s lowest power consumption, as well as have capacitive touch capability with best-in-class water tolerance and noise immunity. Microchip uses proprietary picoPower technology to provide industry-leading low power consumption in active and all sleep modes.
“IoT endpoints often require low power and high security,” said Rod Drake, vice president of Microchip’s MCU32 business unit. “However, the growth of IoT nodes is happening so fast that security is not always addressed. The features of the SAM L11 are exactly what customers need to plan for security early in the design cycle.”
In addition to TrustZone technology, the SAM L11 security features include an on-board cryptographic module supporting Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Galois Counter Mode (GCM) and Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA). The secure boot and secure key storage with tamper detection capabilities establish a hardware root of trust. It also offers secure bootloader for secure firmware upgrades.
The touch interface makes the devices ideal for a myriad of automotive, appliance, medical and consumer Human Machine Interface (HMI) applications.
Microchip has partnered with Trustonic, a member of Microchip’s Security Design Partner Program, to offer a comprehensive security solution framework that simplifies implementation of security and enables customers to introduce end products faster. Microchip has also partnered with Secure Thingz and Data I/O Corporation to offer secure provisioning services for SAM L11 customers that have a proven security framework.